Penguins Notebook: Roberts hopes he can play Sunday
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Left winger Gary Roberts hopes to play in the Penguins’ regular-season finale Sunday in Philadelphia.
Roberts, out since his leg was broken and he got a high ankle sprain when Buffalo’s Tim Connolly fell on him Dec. 29, participated in an optional workout at Mellon Arena yesterday, then went public with his plan.
“I’m just trying to get ready to play, whether it’s one game – maybe on Sunday, if things go well the next few days,” he said. “I need a few more days of practice, but it definitely feels better. … Hopefully, with no setbacks [over] the next few days, maybe I’ll play Sunday.”
Roberts pronounced himself “pain-free” after practicing but acknowledged he needs more workouts to get ready to play. And that he’d like to get some game action before the playoffs begin next week.
“No one wants to go into the playoffs with no games under their belt,” he said. "The pace is pretty good right now. Obviously, I haven’t played for three months. I’m doing everything I can, off the ice, to be ready to play, but there’s nothing like game conditioning.
“I need to get into some drills in practice, get into some battling drills to make sure I feel comfortable trying to play my game. There’s no use me being out there if I can’t move around. If I feel like I’m going to be a liability, I won’t play.”
ya thats how it had been in years past. the scratch ticket tells if you have a jersey. it had a number on it and the number on it matched to the numeric order of the pens roster. for example if you got number 1 then youd get Hal Gill cause hes the lowest number on our team (2)
I went the year before the lockout to the shirts off our backs night. My odds of winning were pretty good because there were like 11,000 people there. What a change 4 years makes…
I know…but who do you sit? Letang plays good in his own end, controls the puck great…everyone seems to be playing their role pretty good. Hard choice to make. Sucks for Letang.
Therrien said he wasnt playing bad but the team is too deep at defense and hes 20. so to keep working and he’ll get in. but they arent gonna sit Sydor, they brought him in for playoffs and all that, plus hes playing pretty good. plus, it seems they really want Scuderi to be involved, so Letang is odd man out at this point.
That game last night was sweet…very fun game to be at. Some sick goals, fights, hits, Gonch’s elbows…overall insane game.
The last game can still be interesting. If Montreal loses then it has no meaning…then one would think it would be smart to sit your star players. Playing against the Flyers, you know they will try to take runs against our star players. Then you have to think that game may be a win and your in, lose and your out for the flyers…so maybe it wont be too bad. Then you also got to consider if you sit some guys they will not have played for at least a week…so do you sit them or play them to keep them ready? Either way it will be interesting to see how it pans out.
good point but i think noone will sit. but you have to remember, roberts should be coming back, so that means halls out and talbot centers rutuu and laraque, dupuis moves to a line with crosby and hossa, and roberts on the wing with stall and tk… cause we will need roberts, rutuu, and laraque for this last game, its going to be ugly…
I hope roberts doesn’t come back. No need to shake it up when they are playing so well together right now. If it was another player like Crosby, then yea but I wouldn’t change what they have going for roberts.