Due to illness, ESPN’s Sean McDonough will not be on the call for Friday night’s Eastern Conference Finals Game 2 between the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers.
ESPN announced the news on Friday afternoon.
Bob Wischusen will call the game for ESPN, paired with analyst Ray Ferraro in the booth, joined by reporter Emily Kaplan and rules analyst Dave Jackson at Madison Square Garden in New York. The game is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. ET.
McDonough is still scheduled to return and call Game 3, per ESPN’s PR site. No details have been provided regarding the illness.
Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves in the Panthers’ 3-0 shutout win over the Rangers 3-0 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final on Wednesday. The winner of the best-of-seven series will play the winner of the Dallas Stars-Edmonton Oilers matchup in the Western Conference Finals.
McDonough and Ferraro have been calling games together throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In Game 7 of the series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, they pulled off a reverse announcer jinx. McDonough also correctly predicted how that series would end and the Bruins would advance.
Here’s to a speedy recovery for McDonough and a quick return to calling the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
[ESPN PR]
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.