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Green's Storm Before Calm
Mike Green scored twice in his NHL playoff debut. "I usually don't get nervous, he said, "But I was. . . . Things didn't come naturally."
(By Toni L. Sandys -- The Washington Post)
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Stevens now has something else to worry about: Green.
"We allowed him to beat us up the ice too much," Stevens said of the Capitals' freewheeling defenseman. "He was great at eluding the forecheck. He was great spinning off the guy who was on him.
"He doesn't rest. He's on the attack all the time. He skates just as fast with the puck as he does without it."
What concerned Stevens most was the number of times Green mustered a shot. He fired a team-high six on goal. Four other attempts were blocked, while another three went wide.
"Thirteen times he had the puck going toward our net," Stevens said. "That's too many."
One of the blocked shots was absorbed by Flyers' left wing Patrick Thoresen. The Capitals were on the power play when Green unleashed a slap shot. Thoresen went down to block it and was struck in the groin area.
Thoresen lay on the ice writhing in pain as Green scored to tie the game at 4. He was later taken to Washington Hospital Center, where he remained overnight before being released yesterday morning. He did not require surgery as originally feared and could be back in the lineup today.
"My groin area is sore and swollen," Thoresen told reporters. "I can't really walk properly right now. It hurts."
Green didn't know how seriously Thoresen was hurt until a staff member informed him after the game. He immediately reached out to Thoresen, leaving a message for him on the cellphone of Flyers trainer Jim McCrossin.
"He wished me well," Thoresen said. "That was very classy of him."
It all made for an emotional night Green won't soon forget: the jitters; the two big goals; potentially injuring an opponent seriously; the sight of dozens of fans sporting Mohawks as a tribute to him (Green started wearing the spiked hairdo in the postseason two seasons ago in the American Hockey League).
"I know there was that section that I'd seen on the JumboTron," Green said, referring to 45 fans with Mohawks who were seated together in the upper deck after winning tickets to the game from a radio station. "That part was awesome."
But he is also happy it's all behind him now.
"I'm glad the first game is done and over," he said. "It was a long time coming, but I don't think I'll feel nervous anymore."
Capitals Note: Green earned a $150,000 bonus for leading the league in goals by a defenseman, and a total of nearly $300,000 in incentives for finishing among the leaders in several other statistical categories.
