Goucher On Toucher & Rich: 'Huge Loss' If Horton Can't Play
After sweeping the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals many experts were picking the Bruins to win it all this year, but now after Game 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks the tunes have changed. Apparently the thought is the loss in triple overtime is a massive psychological drain and a tough thing to get over.
"When it's all said and done it is one loss," 98.5 The Sports Hub's Bruins play-by-play announcer told Toucher & Rich. "And from the Bruins' standpoint they've got a chance tomorrow night to still get a split out of this."
"They come out here tomorrow night and get a win and they can go back home 1-1 then that triple overtime game you can kind of push that out of your memory a little bit quicker."
As if the triple overtime loss wasn't bad enough, the Bruins also lost Nathan Horton midway through the first overtime after shoving Niklas Hjalmarsson in front of the Chicago net. The right winger skated off the ice favoring his right shoulder and did not return.
His return for Game 2 on Saturday is still unknown, as head coach Claude Julien said Thursday afternoon that Horton is considered day-to-day. Does Goucher see Horton making a return in Game 2 or at all for that matter?
"Well the thing that I was concerned about to be honest with you was that he didn't come back and play in Game 1, a game of that magnitude and a game that goes into three overtimes. That wasn't really an encouraging sign for me."
"If he can't play that a huge loss for them, we remember a couple years ago he got hurt in Game 3 of the Finals against Vancouver, but if he can't go that's huge because he's second in the league in playoff scoring behind Krejci."
If Horton can't go how do they fill the hole on his line?
"They would likely put Seguin up there, maybe that could be a shot in the arm for him to get his game going, but who knows?"
