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well i dont deny he was still feeling the effects of the hit, but it seems everytime a player doesnt perform well, he mysteriously gets "the flu".

the same thing happened to jose theodore in the 2nd round. He played bad cause he had "the flu"

maybe malkin was sick, but either way it was one hell of a series and got a little nerve racking at the end again. Was thinking game 5 all over again. but congrats to both the teams for making it a very hard fought, entertaining series. and good luck to both teams next season.

Det is right but I would add one sentence. If the flu and trauma impact was that bad, they should have rested the guy.

After watching how they pass and break out of their own zone I too had trouble keeping food down.

Belichick....didn't your guy for President have his IRs practice when they were supposed to be, um, IRs? --:-)

Wow! Already coming out with excuses. Although, I can see how the crushing check by Richards would have effected the rest of his game. Funny how the Flyers were still there to haunt them. Congrats to the Detroit Red Wings!

Yes, Therrien, but do you want a filthy cheat who wins or a great guy who loses? I think the Pens will be good next year. But I also thought they were gonna win game 6. Oh well...

Flu like symptom my foot!
Funny a guy would over play his shifts, be granted top ice time and not receive any real coaching until the final 2 games of the series.
This is a coaching issue. If he was not 100% his minutes should have been dropped, his roll altered while his body recovered yet still being able to contribute in the lineup.
Fire TheRien!

Agreed, Bauner, though I'm on the fence about firing, as I explained on the other post. Therrien is an idiot though.

So Malkin had the flu, eh? And Theodore had the flu. Hmm. Maybe THAT was the conspiracy you are looking for, Pens fans! The Wings have pulled the same trick as the White Man did when he came to North America! Give the Natives an illness, then reap the rewards!!!

Therrien started the "excuse train" the moment they stepped on the same ice with the Wings and they're still pouring out of Pittsburgh.

That mentality is gonna get them nowhere. If the Pens want to sniff the Cup in the next few years they gotta replace their crybaby French-Canadian coach with a true hard-nosed blue-collar Pittsburgh-style leader.

I'm glad to see Mike Richards of the Flyers helped Pittsburgh lose to Detroit.

hahaha, BobD, that's two good comments on two threads, good on ya.

I posed this question on mhwings' blog, but now will pose it here.

If Malkin was sick, why wasn't it disclosed, as per the NHL's disclosure policy? Sure, they are trying to amend it now, but it hasn't been yet, so they should have had to let the public know. The Avs had to when Theodore was sick, so why didn't the Pens have to do the same? I realise its a moot point now, with the Wings having won and all, but doesn't this seem a bit sketchy to anyone else?

and no, I'm not jumping on the conspiracy train here, I have no belief in that whatsoever

Regardless of whether or not he had the flu and an injury from the Richards hit you could tell Malkin was absolutely gassed in Game 6. Even though he scored, he was skating on fumes. It'll be interesting to see what the Pens look like in the fall without Hossa and probably Orpik and maybe a new coach.

The only flu Malkin is suffering from is the Russian Flu. The symptoms are a marked drop in production when Russian players stop getting paid after the regular season ends. They are using the flu excuse because they want to trade this guy (he has threatened to play in Russia next year) and they don't want his milk carton act on the finals affect his market value.

Det is right but I would add one sentence. If the flu and trauma impact was that bad, they should have rested the guy.
BelichickforPresident | 06/06/08, 06:47 AM
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It's the playoffs you don't just sit out for something like that. And if he did sit, then everyone here would be calling him a huge vag.

The only flu Malkin is suffering from is the Russian Flu. The symptoms are a marked drop in production when Russian players stop getting paid after the regular season ends. They are using the flu excuse because they want to trade this guy (he has threatened to play in Russia next year) and they don't want his milk carton act on the finals affect his market value.
PopKing | 06/06/08, 09:51 AM
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Really? Is that cold hard fact? If so, please send me the article.

Yeah, Malkin wasn't sick. Like Capsfan said, just gassed.

Credit the Wings' team defense too. They made sure Malkin stayed gassed.

The Red Wings have a way of making everyone sick when they play them. You know how it is when you play someone way better than you, you feel weak, unathletic, not as fit as the other guy.

He did not seem the same in this series. If he really was sick then Therrien should have limited his shifts. I mean this guys was out there several times for like two minutes! You don't leave a guy out there that long if he is sick or gassed. So either that wasn't the problem or Therrien is the worst coach ever by increasing his ice time instead of shortening it. For most of the series Malkin had more ice time than Crosby, for gripe's sake.

Seems to me Malkin is being used as Therrien's whipping boy and if so it's a disgrace.

Oilers4Ever, interesting perspective. Although I think it's more the media whipping Malkin than Therrien at this point.

Therrien probably whipped Malkin into exhaustion before the finals.