Every Monday at 9:00am during the Playoffs we are asking Dan “Murph” Murphy , Host of the Canucks, a couple of questions recapping the past week of Canuck action and to take a look into the next week. If you have a question you want us to ask, comment on this post or follow him here on Twitter. Here are this Monday’s questions:
Cactus Club: Is there any way the Canucks will continue to play Alberts if Rome is still not ready, or will Baumgartner get a chance to play instead?
Murph: I would guess that Game two was the straw that broke the camels back as far as AV’s patience for Andrew Alberts goes. The coach doesn’t mind a guy taking penalties when he is being physically aggressive and running guys through the glass – but the little hooks and holds he wont tolerate. For the record, Aaron Rome skated on Sunday (it was a day off for the rest of the team) and said after he felt “pretty good”. I would guess we will see Rome in for Alberts in Game three. But I’m not convinced that will be it for Alberts as far as the rest of the playoffs are concerned.
Cactus Club: With the lack of playoff exposure for the L.A. fans, what do you think the atmosphere will be like at the Kings games?
Murph: For as average as the Kings have been over the last 7 years I’m always surprised how vocal their fans are. Now that’s not to say that the building has been packed over that time span – but the die hard fans they have are great. They’re also creative with their insults. There always seem to be a few yahoos right beside the Canucks tunnel and they’ll let anyone have it – from players, to coaches to trainers. That said, all teams are second fiddle to the Lakers in LA. And considering Kobe and company played game one of their playoffs Sunday (game two goes Tuesday) there will be much more purple and gold around the arena than purple and black.
Cactus Club: Do you see any line up changes happening for game 3? Demeitra has been pretty invisible thus far so do you give Grabner a chance for more minutes?
Murph: Im not sure if we’ll see any big line up changes in game three. Maybe the lines will be shuffled a bit, but I cant see Demitra being benched at this point. I know he hasn’t been very good in games one and two (not to mention his entire playoff career), however the coach does use him in a lot of situations so I think he’ll keep his spot in the line-up. If, for some reason, AV doesn’t want Demitra on the point on the powerplay or on the third PK unit then all bets are off. Personally I’d like to see AV re-unite the line of Raymond-Kesler-Grabner for a few shifts, if only to get them out against the slow yet steady D pairing of Greene and O’Donnell.
There you have the inside scoop. Tune in next Monday for more Monday’s with Murph!
Have a question you’d like answered for next week? Comment Below. Or take a peek a last week’s questions.