The Calgary Flames face elimination Monday night at home. They'll play the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series. When they take to the ice, they hope to have star defenseman Dion Phaneuf available to play. Phaneuf left Game 5 after his head clonked that of Blackhawk Troy Brouwer. His status became cloudier when he was nowhere to be found for practice Sunday.
The Flames initally offered up no information on Phaneuf, with head coach Mike Keenan only saying he's "day to day".
UPDATE: Phaneuf is officially out for Monday's game.
The Calgary Herald gathered up the normal "must-win, no excuses" quote from the Flames' captain.
"We don't know about (Phaneuf's status) but it's part of it," said Jarome Iginla. "It's been a physical series, but we do have depth. We've talked about it all year, and we need it now. You can't control those issues, so you deal with it. And the other thing is that we believe we'll get past this. There's no time for excuses. Hopefully, Dion is back and feeling great (tonight) but if he's not, we still need to find a way to win this game."Phaneuf would be a huge loss, and it would be a shocker if he didn't play Monday night. Obviously, the team is going to be cautious with what everyone assumes is a head injury.
Unlike injuries to many other body parts, Phaneuf is unlikely to have the final say on whether he plays in this game. That's going to fall on the doctors who will be watching his recovery.
