St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott injured in practice, day-to-day –NHL Update
St. Louis Blues had their confusion cleared up about which goalie to play in the opening Western Conference playoffs quarterfinal game against San Jose Sharks as Brian Elliott was injured during a team practice session on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, and is
termed to be on a day-to-day basis.
"He's got a little bit of an upper-body issue, day to day," Blues coach, Ken Hitchcock, said.
The second seed of the West termed Elliott’s injury as an upper-body one and not serious in any way which is why they put the player on a day-to-day re-evaluation basis. Elliott was reported to take part in one of the two sessions St. Louis had on Tuesday
but it is also believed that he will be ready to play come Thursday.
"Rather than just try to squeeze the big, long (practice), we took him (out after) the short one and we'll get him back out here tomorrow or the next day and see how it is. He'll be fine though," Hitchcock added. "(Elliott) is fine to play, so that's not
an issue."
Hitchcock also added that Elliott had been performing to the max and it eventually took its toll on him but now he has planned on resting the player till game day.
"We didn't want to aggravate it. We've been nursing it for a week. We didn't want to take him too far down the lineup. He got a lot of work in the first 45 minutes," Hitchcock stated.
For St. Louis, it was a tough decision decided whether to play Brian Elliott in the net or Jaroslav Halak, both which have had a remarkable 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season with the Blues.
Elliott led the league overall in save percentage at .940 and goals against average (1.56) as well, making him the best at the moment. St. Louis is planning on seeing how they vary in terms of performing against San Jose Sharks and will use them accordingly.
Game-one of the quarterfinals between San Jose and St. Louis is scheduled for Thursday and with both teams all set to go in for the kill, Elliott will definitely be a part of it but just not starting.
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