The puck seems to just find Caps defenseman Mike Green. That’s a good thing when he’s darting into the offensive zone and creating havoc. That’s not so good when it keeps hitting him in the head. For the third time since Feb. 6, Green had to leave a game early with a head injury. It happened again during Game 5 of an Eastern Conference quarterfinal game against the Rangers Saturday afternoon.
This time a Matt Gilroy shot struck Green in the left side of his helmet at 13:39 of the first period as the defenseman dove to block the shot. It was a courageous play. It wasn’t necessarily the smartest play for a guy who took a shot off the right temple Feb. 6, tried to return a few days later, shut it down for a few weeks and lasted two shifts into a Feb. 25 game against the Rangers before getting knocked out with a concussion.
Green wobbled to the bench and disappeared until early in the second period. But he didn’t play another shift, instead sitting on the bench and skating in circles during timeouts. Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said Green told him he was fine and the team could have played him in the third period, if necessary. But with a multi-goal lead it wasn’t and caution prevailed.
“That’s tremendous character,” Boudreau said. “I just wish he’d get the magnets out of his helmet.”
For his effort, Green – who missed 26 of the final 28 regular-season games before returning for Game 1 on April 13 – earned the hard hat from his teammates. It didn’t hurt that he also scored the first goal of the night, a power-play tally at 5:59 of the first period. That was his first goal of the postseason, first in the playoffs since April 26, 2009 in Game 6 of a first-round series against New York and fifth point vs. the Rangers in this series. That was also the first time either team scored a goal in the first period.
“When you get a guy like that who’s had symptoms before and who goes down to block a shot – he’s determined to win,” center Jason Arnott said. “Hats off to him for doing that. Hopefully he comes back and he’s well. He seems to be all right. That just pumped us up even more to see him go down trying to keep a goal out by outing his body first and put the team first.”
Added teammate Karl Alzner: “He’s doing what it takes to block shots. He got the hard hat today. That’s what it takes sometimes in the playoffs – you dive in front of pucks. But in the head? It’s very unfortunate. Just kind of a bad bounce. And it’s too bad. But everyone is going to take care of him now and hopefully he’ll be good.”
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