After a 3-2 loss against Pittsburgh last night, the Wings have another concern to add to the list. Forward Tomas Holmstrom left the game with just over six minutes remaining after a Hal Gill cross check (update: trip) and did not return. He was seen limping as he exited Mellon Arena.
Despite this, GM Ken Holland believes that Homer will play in Saturday's game.
He felt OK this morning," Holland said. "Sometimes in the first 24-48 hours, you get significantly worse. He wasn’t any worse today, so that’s a good sign."
Teammates weren’t overly concerned.
"They said he was limping out of the arena," Zetterberg said, "and I said he does that a lot of times."
Now it's not incredibly unusual to see Holmstrom with ice after the game after the beatings he usually takes in front of the opponent's net, but he did miss the end of the game which concerns me a bit. Still, it's the Stanley Cup Final and Homer would have to be in a ton of pain to not play in Game #4. It's not like Johan Franzen, who missed six games with concussion-like symptoms and you had to be cautious because it's his brain. This is an alleged knee injury. Slightly different story in that regard.
Correction: I was appropriately corrected by a Pens fan over at PensBurgh that the injury did not come from a Hal Gill cross check, rather more of a tripping motion. My bad.
Update: Holmstrom practiced this morning on the first line, but is still not a 100% yes to play tonight. He is a game-time decision and Homer will be the one deciding whether he plays tonight or tonight. I expect him to play based on Babcock and Homer's comments.