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burning-up-ao3 · 5 years

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NEWARK, N.J. — While on a five-day trip to Jackson Hole, Wyo. during the Penguins’ bye week late last month, Sidney Crosby began to feel something he had not felt in years, since the most recent NHL lockout in 2004-05.

On the second-to-last day of what was supposed to be an enjoyable vacation, the Penguins captain wound up a couple thousand miles away from either of his two homes, miserable and sick, unable to do much of anything.

“You get used to having to play through colds and stuff like that,” Crosby said. “People go to work with them. It’s a part of life. But sometimes it stops you in your tracks like that. There’s nothing you can do.”

What Crosby went through is common for NHL players, who are constantly shuttling on and off airplanes, checking in and out of hotels and entering and leaving (entirely too) cold buildings, all during the darkest days of winter.

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No matter how many vitamins they take or calcium they consume, they’re inevitably going to get sick. Sometimes it might get ugly. And they’re well aware that sick days are almost never an option.

Which means that Crosby, given what he contracted, was actually one of the lucky ones, in that he could rest some. More often than probably anyone realizes, NHL players have to play through some ugly stuff, flu bugs and stomach illnesses the public never hears about.

“It happens every winter, where half the team gets sick,” Matt Cullen said. “The training room is busy. Guys are looking for anything to help them get over the hump so they can feel well enough to play.

“It’s why you try so hard to take care of what you can control. You’re getting your sleep and fluids because it [stinks] as a player when you’re sick. You have to play regardless.

“You see it every once in a while, when guys are throwing up in the bathroom during warmup or between periods. I’ve had teammates run off the bench. It’s part of the deal.”

2. And when it happens on the road, Bryan Rust said, there’s nothing worse.

“It’s miserable,” Rust said. “It’s kind of a helpless feeling; it’s not like you’re in your own bed, and you can rely on someone.

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“You also feel bad for the maids who have to come in there afterward and clean up.”

It’s a feeling Rust knows well, too. He said he was knock-down, drag-out sick twice: once in college at Notre Dame and another time during the early days of his Penguins career.

What does the versatile winger do when it happens?

“Lie in bed, turn the lights off, close the shades,” Rust said. “And hope it goes away as fast as possible.”

3. It was a funny topic to take around the Penguins dressing room: Have you ever been sick on the road?

Those who hadn’t, immediately found some wood on which to knock. Those who had, launched into some humorous tales.

In 2013, Olli Maatta was playing for Finland at the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia. Maatta thought he ate something funky, food that was potentially undercooked. The next few days were brutal.

“Not the best thing that ever happened,” Maatta said with a smile. “Although being stuck in my room and trying to watch whatever it was on Russian TV might’ve been the worst thing.”

4. Before he was traded, Riley Sheahan told me a good one about when he was with the Detroit Red Wings a couple years ago. He vacationed in Mexico during the All-Star break and brought back a little present.

“I caught a virus or something,” Sheahan said. “I was sick for like five weeks. I actually had to miss a game, on the Moms’ trip, in Florida. It wasn’t fun.”

Garrett Wilson was a proud member of the knock-on-wood club. Despite playing for San Antonio in the AHL — where they’d have to leave for a month every winter because the rodeo came to town — Wilson has never been sick on the road.

“I don’t puke too often, either,” Wilson said. “Even drinking or anything, I don’t puke. Pretty lucky that way.”

Wilson said he did play with a guy — John McFarland, in the Florida Panthers system — who didn’t feel right until he forced himself to vomit before a game, although that wasn’t related to being sick.

“You definitely hear the odd time a guy is hurling in the bathroom before a game, whether they’re sick or nervous,” Wilson said. “It almost makes you sick hearing it.”

5. Whether or not it’s better to get sick in a hotel room versus at home sparked a lively debate. Matt Murray is all for the road option.

“I think a hotel room is a good place to be,” Murray said before taking his knuckles to his dressing room stall. “You’re not bugging your family or anything like that. You get to sleep it off.”

Wilson agreed.

“I don’t think it’s too bad on the road,” Wilson said. “You’re with the trainers all the time. They’re usually at the same hotel. If you do get really sick, they’re just a text or phone call away.”

6. My personal opinion: These guys are nuts. It’s much worse to be sick in a hotel, with none of the comforts of home.

It happened to me recently, too, around the same time as Crosby. In San Jose, Calif. for the NHL All-Star Game, I literally could not stand at Media Day because I was dizzy and nauseous.

Eventually, with neither Crosby nor Letang there, I decided to cut bait take an Uber back to my hotel room — backpack open the entire way, praying there were no issues.

Yada, yada, yada … the next 24 hours were not fun.

“Hotel room, being stuck in a little space there, it’s terrible,” Maatta (correctly) said.

7. Back to the war stories, though, which turned out to be my favorite part of reporting this.

In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Rust’s next-door neighbor in the dressing room was former Penguins prospect Jayson Megna.

“One game, between periods, he was hugging a trash can,” Rust said. “On the bench, same thing. It was impressive to see him play through it. I don’t think I would have been able to. It was pretty wild.”

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan experienced the same thing when he played for the Calgary Flames.

“I had the flu,” Sullivan recalled. “Played through it to the point where I was throwing up between periods, and they had to put an IV in me to replace all the fluids I had lost. That was the hardest one from a personal standpoint.”

8. When he was with Minnesota — the first time — Cullen once played with walking pneumonia. To conserve as much energy as possible, Cullen skipped the morning skate and stayed home basically until puck drop.

With the Wild apparently short on players and unable to make a roster move in time, Cullen said there wasn’t another option.

“That was a tough one, running to the bathroom between periods,” Cullen said. “We were in a pinch. Just had to do it.”

Being able to rely on a routine, Cullen said, does help.

“It helps to normalize everything even if you feel terrible,” Cullen said. “You get out and do warmup, get some blood flowing, you’re out in front of the fans, it gives you some adrenaline. But after the game, you feel it.”

9. Tanner Pearson had some good perspective on the matter because he nearly wound up disgustingly sick on the road while with the Kings last February.

Los Angeles had arrived home from a four-game road trip that actually included its annual Dads’ trip — maybe we should blame the parents? — when Pearson started to feel dizzy and nauseous.

“I don’t know if it was something I ate on the plane or what,” Pearson said. “Just hit me like a ton of bricks. We landed, and that was the end of me.”

But there was the benefit, Pearson said, of making it home. He could sleep in his own bed. His wife was there. At least he wasn’t in a hotel room.

“I see guys who are sick on the road,” Pearson said, “and it looks like pure torture.”

10. It can also be downright scary.

Marcus Pettersson had a couple stories, one funny, the other not so much. The first was the 2016 World Junior Championship, in Helsinki, Finland. A couple of Pettersson’s teammates contracted the stomach flu.

“It’s crazy how quickly something like that can spread,” Pettersson said. “You just have to isolate yourself.”

Pettersson also heard a story about Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson’s brother, Jimmie, when he was playing with SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL in 2014-15. When Jimmie Ericsson told the team’s doctors he didn’t feel well, they treated it like some sort of illness — but never checked anything else.

Turns out Ericsson had a partially ruptured spleen, which they only discovered upon returning home.

“They just thought he was sick,” Pettersson said. “He got medicine shots in his [butt]. They said, ‘You’re good. You can play.’ It was crazy.”

11. The Penguins would never allow something like that to happen.

Sullivan explained the lengths to which the team goes to try and stack the odds in their favor, all while realizing that sickness during a winter sport are pretty much inevitable.

On the road, the Penguins will ensure that sick players get their own rooms, Sullivan said. They also get their own water bottles on the bench, the equipment staff will wash and sanitize things even more than they already do, and Sullivan has no problem sending a guy home if he’s sick.

“It’s difficult when you’re in close quarters like this,” Sullivan said. “But we do everything within our power to see if we can’t contain it when those types of things arise.”

12. Wanted to close with this anecdote from Crosby on not participating in the NHL All-Star Skills Competition when he was probably extremely contagious. Made me laugh, anyway.

“The last thing I wanted to do was get everyone sick. That’s all I need,” Crosby said before cracking a smile. “Of course, I guess it was our division … “

13. Moving on …

The more I think about it, Carl Hagelin would be a perfect fit for the Penguins at the NHL trade deadline, provided they can convince the Los Angeles Kings or or someone else to take Pearson.

Small problem: The deal actually isn’t possible.

I didn’t learn this until recently, and I’m guessing you didn’t know it, either. It’s a CBA quirk that’s actually pretty dumb, in my opinion.

Once a team retains salary in a trade — the Penguins retained $250,000 — they can’t reacquire that player for a minimum of one year after the transaction or until the player's contract expires or is terminated prior to the one-year date.

It’s a shame, too, because I think Hagelin would’ve been worth checking on.

For his penalty killing (Penguins are just 25 for their last 36, 69.4 percent), Hagelin’s fit with Evgeni Malkin and what Hagelin could potentially do for good friend Patric Hornqvist, who doesn’t have a point in 12 games.

14. As for what the Penguins could realistically do, I’m not in favor of anything big. Maybe add a depth forward or defenseman, depending on who’s out there.

But at some point, this group should be allowed to actually play together for a stretch, and we’re running out of time for that to happen.

Many of you have suggested a 1a goalie type as well. There’s a variety of problems with this. One, cost. That guy wouldn’t come cheap, if he was worth anything. Two, what do you do with Casey DeSmith? Three, how does that play with Murray?

I know he’s been hurt a lot, but I can’t imagine that would go over well. Murray is your No. 1. You paid DeSmith to be your backup. Hold onto Tristan Jarry. I’d stick with that.

15. Without Hagelin, I’m curious to see where this goes with Zach Aston-Reese alongside Malkin and Phil Kessel. It’s a tremendous opportunity for him and one for which he’s actually well-suited.

“Any time you can stay on your natural side, it’s a little bit easier,” Aston-Reese said after Sunday’s 6-5 victory over the New York Rangers. “Phil kind of has that signature shot, too, coming down on his strong side. I like to work hard defensively. It’s definitely nice to balance out those two.”

I like Aston-Reese as a lot, as a player and person. He’s extremely smart, quotable and great to deal with from our perspective. If we were ranking most media-friendly players in the Penguins dressing room, he’d surely be up there.

But hockey-wise, he’s going to make a lot of people happy if he’s able to blend some physicality with offense and a willingness to play defense. He’s still rounding out his game in a few different ways, but I think the Penguins definitely got a good one here.

16. It’s obvious — and Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook wrote this off of Sunday’s game — but the Penguins need to get Hornqvist going. How do they do that?

I see two options. One, I’d consider playing Hornqvist with Sidney Crosby. Nothing against Rust. He’s been great there. But they need more out of Hornqvist.

My second possible solution would be trying Kessel on the third line with Nick Bjugstad — they had some chemistry — and using Hornqvist with Malkin, a situation where the feisty Swede thrived last season.

I hate Hornqvist in the bottom-six, as I’ve never seen his production give the Penguins a competitive advantage in that spot the way Kessel’s has at various times throughout his Penguins tenure.

17. This won’t be a popular opinion, but I’ve actually liked Jack Johnson on his natural left side the past couple of games.

I know what the goals-for numbers are — they’re awful — and I know how Johnson is perceived by the fan base. But if Rutherford or Sullivan are frustrated with Johnson’s play this season, they’re doing one heck of a job hiding it.

Whether you want to admit it or not, Johnson won’t be a healthy scratch. And what I’ve seen the past couple of games — Johnson’s been with Juuso Riikola with one and Justin Schultz for two — has actually been pretty decent.

18. Shut up, Don Cherry. Can we all agree on that?

He scolded the Carolina Hurricanes for, of all things, having fun. I hate giving this any airspace whatsoever, so I’m going to twist it another way: Forget about Dino Don and think of this from a Hurricanes perspective.

Great organization. Great city. A lot of fun to watch. If this gets their fans excited, my goodness, go for it. I think it’s tremendous. And I love seeing the Old (Canadian) Guard get upset over it.

19. Stat of the week: 12

That’s the number of points for Pettersson since the Dec. 3 trade that brought him to Pittsburgh. It’s also one less than Daniel Sprong has during that same stretch.

20. Non-hockey thought of the week: Apparently MLB commissioner Rob Manfred thinks we’re all stupid. Did you see this story from the Post-Gazette’s new baseball writer, Nubyjas Wilborn? Two quotes struck me.

“This narrative that our teams aren’t trying is just not supported by the facts. Our teams are trying. Every single one of them wants to win.”

Yes, they are trying, and they do want to win. I don’t doubt that the Pirates try and prefer winning to losing. But I could race Usain Bolt, and I’d still try. I’d still want to win. The problem is that I would not have taken the requisite steps to do so.

Then this gem: “I reject the notion that payroll is a good measure for how hard a team is trying or how successful that team is going to be.”

There are certainly outliers here: small-market teams that compete and big spenders that don’t. But the two teams in the World Series last year spent the most. Generally if you’re actually paying to play, you have a chance.

The only thing I hate more than baseball’s financial structure is when people in positions of power try to sell us this garbage.

Jason Mackey: [email protected] and Twitter @JMackeyPG.

#Jason Mackey #Pittsburgh Post Gazette #pittsburgh penguins

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villesnhl · 6 years

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10 thoughts about the Flyers at Sharks, 10/9/2018

San Jose Sharks picked up their first regulation win with a record-breaking 8-2 effort against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. After 4-0 shutout against the Islanders, Sharks received an offensive burst from six different players. Evander Kane and Joe Pavelski both had two goals. Here are the 10 thoughts about the Sharks at Flyers.

1. Aaron Dell

- The final score might overshadow it but Aaron Dell had a really solid night in the goal. He made some key saves early in the first and was able to keep the Flyers off the board early in the second as well. If the Sharks wanna have success in tight Pacific, they better have two goaltenders.who can put on a show a night after night. So far, so good.

2. Two PPGs, 0-for-10 before tonight... but it still feels a bit awkward.

- Burns, Karlsson, Hertl, Pavelski, and Couture. I mean, that is a preeeetty solid first power play unit. Somehow the Sharks were 0-for-10 on the PP before tonight. They got one from Kane and one from Hertl but at times, the PP still looks awkward. Is there simply too much talent on the ice at the same time? Erik Karlsson said that the power play is a work in progress. Kevin Labanc said that they need to look for the dirty PP goals, instead of the pretty ones.

3. No Thornton, no worries?

Jumbo is out for a while (I know, not the most accurate time frame) but Doug Wilson insisted it being "nothing out of ordinary" and "more likely short-time, than long-term. Let's just believe what Doug says, right? Tonight, the Sharks survived without Jumbo. Evander Kane had two (for a season total of 5) and Joe Pavelski had two as well. Kevin Labanc had four assists. Two assists for Karlsson. The offense was there tonight. Now the question is, can they do this on the most nights? Not 8 goals but something along these lines.

4. Suomela should have had his 1st NHL-goal - had a very active 1st period.

- Antti Suomela, a 24-year-old Finnish rookie forward, scored his first NHL-goal - which was immediately waved off. After the game, Suomela said that the ref told him that the original call would stand. Later in the period, the same ref (Gord Dwyer) told the another Finnish forward, Joonas Donskoi, that he blew the whistle a little too quickly and that it should had been a good goal. Suomela was very active and visible in the first period, with only 2:48 of ice time. He had 5 shots and was visible in both ends of the ice. He finished the night with 7 shots and 11:34 of ice time. Suomela also said that he is getting much more comfortable playing with some of the players he grew up watching.

5. Sharks had 48 shots, most ever in the road game.

- San Jose had 25(!) shots already in the first period. They kept their foot on the gas and broke the record for the most shots in the road game. The prior record was set back in 1996, at Pittsburgh. Kane said that they kept putting the puck to the net early on and it paid off. He also admitted that they got a few lucky bounces on the way. I guess that happens when you have 48 shots in the game…

6. EK-watch: Trust the Process.

- Erik Karlsson is looking better and better every game. We have to remember that the Sharks system is completely different compared to the Sens system (yes, I'm saying that the Sens do have a defensive system) and it'll take some time to adjust. That saying, Karlsson played his best game so far in Philly. He had a great one-timer on the power play early in the first but Brian Elliott was able to stop that one. Karlsson picked up a few assists later in the game, for a total of 0+3 in the season.

Trust the process... not my words.

7. Kevin Labanc had a record-breaking night too...

Not a bad start to the contract year, 5 points in 4 games. Labanc had four assists against the Flyers, most for the Sharks-skater since Pavelski had 4 in 2011. After the game, Labanc said that the team came into Philly “with a chip on their shoulder” and that showed on the ice. He also said that “the team is now looking like a team that everybody was talking about during the preseason”. Kevin, you read preseason power rankings?

8. No morning skate, better legs?

- It wasn't a quite normal back-to-back since the Islanders-game was played in the afternoon, but head coach Pete DeBoer decided to give his players some time off and canceled the morning skate in Philly. "If it wasn't 20-minute drive from the hotel to the rink, we might have done it but I'm glad we didn't. We had good legs and good energy right from the beginning.”

9. Oh, Gritty dropped from the ceiling to “Wrecking Ball” tunes.

Oh yes, Gritty was there. In fact, Gritty dropped from the ceiling, while "Wrecking Ball" (Miley Cyrus, not Bruce Springsteen) was blasting from the loudspeakers. If the Flyers had a fairly disappointing opening night, so did the Flyers DJ. The Athletic -reporter Kevin Kurz called the pregame warm-up mix “probably the worst mix of all time”. Also, there was no need for a goal horn when Wayne Simmonds scored to make it 7-2, with a minute to go.

10. Three stars of the game:

1. Evander Kane 2+0

2. Kevin Labanc 0+4

3. Joe Pavelski 2+0

* honorable mention, Aaron Dell.

#sharks #flyers #nhl

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