Chris Pronger has made a living of punishing people when they decide to stand in front of his goaltender. The 35-year old defenseman has amassed 18 penalty minutes thus far in the 2010 playoffs, including many cross-checking and interference calls while clearing out the front of his net. But he does not seem to ever give it a rest. Does Pronger seem to get terrified by the mere thought of Byfuglien standing in front with him? He seemed to downplay the thought when he was asked if the media is blowing the Byfuglien – Pronger battle out of proportion.
“I think you guys are,” he said. He also was not too impressed when he was told that the Chicago forward scored three game-winning goals in the Western Conference Final all from the slot.
“Congratulations,” he added. “It's pretty easy to talk about it. We got a lot of days before that first game.”
Byfuglien may have only punched in 17 goals in the 82-game regular season, but four of his eight goals in the playoffs have been game-winning goals, which is something that has soared his team into the Stanley Cup Finals. So obviously Pronger isn't the first one to downplay Byfuglien's presence in front of the net.
“He's just another guy in front of the net,” commented Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo just before the Western Semifinal Series. Luongo surrendered 23 goals to Chicago in the six-game series, including a hat-trick from Byfuglien in game three.
Even members of the media are claiming that Byfuglien will be the winner of the match-up.
"I wish it were in 1975 so I could really watch this matchup; because the way the rules are now, if Byfuglien goes to the front of the net, Pronger can't touch him,” NBC Hockey analyst Mike Milbury said. “He can have action when the puck's around the crease, but if Byfuglien wants to go to the front of the net, all he has to do is stand there.
"I think it's going to be interesting to see if Pronger can do anything against Byfuglien, because the way the rules are you can't touch the damn guy anymore."
But Pronger has been in this situation before. He has found ways of boxing out foes in front of the net using his big 6'6” frame to his advantage. He will punish his opponents in anyway he can, whether it is legal or not.
The casual NHL fan might be stunned that this is the match-up that the media wants to cover. After all, the current playoff league-leaders in points have both reached the Finals. Jonathon Toews of Chicago (16-7—26) and Mike Richards of Philadelphia (6-15—21) are both tough competitors that will battle it out to get their teams a win. Surely, Pronger will be on the ice when Toews steps on and Richards will see a lot of Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, but that doesn't seem to entice the media as much.
Byfuglien and Pronger will surely have some battles in front of the net that will make the highlight reels, but, as stated by Milbury, the NHL is much too harsh on battles in front of the net. Pronger will not be able to use his normal tactics to keep Byfuglien off the scoreboard. This series will show how truly great the Philadelphia defenseman can be; if he takes too many penalties trying to defend against Byfuglien, the Blackhawks will capitalize on their power-play chances with their dynamic offense. But Flyers goaltender Michael Leighton is counting on Pronger to take the big guys out from in front of his crease. He says he won't do it.
“That’s not my job,” he said. “There might be a couple other players that might do that.”
Keywords: brent seabrook, chicago blackhawks, chris pronger, duncan keith, dustin byfuglien, hockey, jonathan toews, michael leighton, mike milbury, mike richards, nhl, roberto luongo, stanley cup finals, western conference finals
