LaBarbera is back
Jason LaBarbera practiced fully with the team for the first time since his injury and it appears he will start Monday against Colorado. LaBarbera spoke as if there was no doubt he would play. Crawford said he would wait until tomorrow to decide but seemed to be leaning that way.
``It will be nice have Jason back in lineup,'' Crawford said. ``We’ll make the decision tomorrow whether to play him or not but he’s in a position now where he's at least healthy enough to play. It was great for him today to have a solid practice and a good practice and be able to play against everybody.
``We would not be playing him if he was not able to play. There's no doubt people play in the National Hockey League with some pain. If you're injured, there's no way you can play but if you're hurt or hurting, a lot of guys have bumps and bruises and Jason in that category. We’d love nothing better than to have him available to us and it looks like he’s pointing in that direction.''
LaBarbera said he doesn't feel much pain on the ice. It's five minutes after he gets off the ice where the stiffness kicks in. He said he will put a heat pad on his ribs between periods. He still can't sleep on his right side, which bothers him because that's the way he likes to sleep.
``On the ice, it’s not too bad,'' LaBarbera said. ``When my whole body is warm, I don’t really feel it as much. Off the ice, it’s miserable. It hurts. It’s still pretty painful. But when I get warmed up and I’m on the ice, it seems to be all right.''
Expect to still see a lot of backup Jean-Sebastien Aubin this month. Crawford said LaBarbera will probably need more time off than before.
``We have to be honest and say we don't think he will be able to log quite as much of the burden as he had before, that's just my suspicion based on the fact that he's going to be sore,'' Crawford said. ``He's going to continue to be sore here probably for another month.''
hey Matt... I was wondering if you could update us on Ladislav Nagy's health. I remember reading it was a hip flexor injury... any word on when he might return?
Good lord, The Kings are slowly using up all their excuses. If Barb's return doesn't do it, what will?
Thanks Matt.
From reading this report it seems that Crow is rushing Labarbera back into the line-up too soon to save face. And is he gets re-injured because he is not fully heald (which could be more severe next time), then this team could be in even more trouble than they are now. If you can imagine that.
It seems to me that Crawford is fighting to save his job rather than making this team better!
LaBarbera says he has been told he will not make the injury worse diving for a save or doing anything a goalie normally would. The only way he would be in danger is if he his hit in the same area, which would be a big flukish.
Let's just hope it doesn't take a week for him to regain his form.
He was playing very well prior to the injury.
JSA is a bust. Just look at his numbers.
All I have to say is, thank god he's back. After a slow start I was quick to judge that he wasn't cut out to be a #1 goalie in the NHL, but folks, the numbers don't lie. He's played very well since his troubles at the beginning of the season.
Funny, during the Vancouver game, John Garrett, the color man for the Canucks was saying the Kings don't have a goaltender. Of course I know he's an idiot and had no idea what he was talking about due to the fact he was calling Jonathan Bernier, Steve Bernier.