...you make
lemonade. Or as is the case for the Edmonton Oilers, when Marc-Andre Bergeron throws a power forward into your own goaltender, you just gotta deal with it.
In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday, we all saw the play I'm talking about. Andrew
Ladd came rushing up the left wing with the puck. As he cut in towards the net, Bergeron caught him with a solid check. Unfortunately for the Oil, it sent Ladd careening into Conn Smythe favourite Dwayne Roloson.
At first, it looked like Roloson may have suffered an
arm injury. He collapsed forward as the net went flying back. We soon learned that he had a
third degree sprain of his MCL and was gone for the series.
This wasn't the first costly
gaff of the game for Bergeron. As
Don Cherry correctly pointed out, Bergeron was sitting in the slot when Steve Staios failed to keep a puck in at the blue line, allowing Justin Williams to score on a breakaway. Bergeron should have hung back, as Staios losing the puck was a high-percentage possibility.
The Oilers now have a huge problem because, as much as they and their fans may deny it, they had a Messiah complex when it came to Roloson. He was the man who saved their season, brought them from the brink of not qualifying for the playoffs, and backstopped them all the way to the finals. They have
no confidence in either Ty Conklin, whom you could knock over with a leaf right about now, or Jussi Markkanen, who hasn't played since March 1. This will either
sink them as a team, or they will buckle down and play a better game in terms of team defense, blocking shots and making it much easier for whoever gets the call.
Even so, the Hurricanes can smell blood, and they will pour it on in Game 2.
