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PITTSBURGH - Montreal Canadiens defenceman Andrei Markov hobbled out of Mellon Arena on crutches Friday night, made a stop at the team’s downtown hotel and then went to the airport where he was flown back to Montreal.
Judging by the way some people on hand felt - none of them Habs - the Canadiens might as well have gone with him because without their top defenceman, this Eastern Conference semifinal against the Pittsburgh Penguins is over.
Let’s hold judgment on that.
Let’s at least see what happens in Game 2 Sunday afternoon.
Sure, the Canadiens have lost a key part of their team - with a knee injury, apparently; Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said he’s out indefinitely - and they lost Game 1 6-3.
The Penguins have their own issues, having lost centre Jordan Staal - their best two-way player - to a severed tendon in his foot, sustained when he was cut by the skate of Montreal rookie P.K. Subban halfway through the game.
Staal’s status is “day-to-day,” said Penguins coach Dan Bylsma, but you have to be inclined to think one of those days is today and the other is at least three weeks from now.
So both teams will be trying to cope with loss of key pieces Sunday.
For the Habs, it’s the D-man who led them in ice time in the opening-round upset of the top-seeded Washington Capitals, clocking 26 minutes and 26 seconds a game.
When he suffered a similar injury to Stall’s in the first game of the season, the Canadiens went 14-20-3 without him. They were 25-13-7 with Markov in the lineup.
In Staal, the Penguins lose a huge presence at both ends of the ice, a guy who scored on the power play Friday night and always gets strong consideration for the Selke Trophy for the top defensive forward in the league.
“You can’t replace a lot of things that Stallsie does. He’s really become a two-way forward who’s really tough to stop at both ends of the ice,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “You can’t replace that, but it is an opportunity. You can talk about all the things he does well and there’s a ton of them, but the fact is we have to find a way to be successful without him. Hopefully it’s not long, but however long it’s going to be, we’ve got to find a way.”
Markov appeared to injure his right knee when he was hit by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke with a clean check early in Game 1.
“The forecheck is a big part of our game,” said Cooke. “I got a chance to hit him. It wouldn’t matter if it was him or anyone else, (Canadiens defenceman) Hal Gill. I’d play it the same way. I think he saw me coming and tried to hit me back. I don’t know what happened, but after the hit, he got hurt.”
Martin will turn to veteran Roman Hamrlik, who was leaned on heavily in the regular season during Markov’s absence, to eat up Markov’s minutes. Hamrlik has had his struggles, however, and was benched for the third period of Game 5 in the opening series against the Washington Capitals.
Defenceman Jaroslav Spacek is still battling a virus which has apparently effected his balance and won’t be available Sunday.
“It’s tough to replace any guy who plays those minutes and is a big part of their team,” said Crosby. “We’re dealing with the same thing and that’s the bottom line. That’s the way the playoffs work. I’m sure they don’t want people to feel sorry for them. We don’t want people to feel sorry for us. That’s what you deal with. Nobody likes to see teammates get hurt, but you move on.”
We find out who does that better Sunday afternoon.