Wrapup
With a few exceptions, the Flyers played their opening night lineup against a team of Red Wings' role players and AHL players. The 5-2 result speaks for itself. That said, the Flyers played a strong game overall, with the play of James van Riemsdyk being the story of the night. The youngster has all but played his way onto the opening night roster. Mika Pyorala also made a strong case for himself. Simon Gagne appeared to be skating OK.
3rd period
FLYERS 5 - RED WINGS 1: JVR strikes again. On the right half boards, van Riemsdyk moves in a stride and receives the puck from Chris Pronger. At the 2:36 mark, JVR fires a dart of a wrist shot that picks a corner over Osgood. What a shot!!! Claude Giroux gets the secondary assist.
FLYERS 5 - RED WINGS 2: A little bit of loose defensive coverage from Matt Carle and company results in a late goal by Kris Newbury, who went to the net and got the puck from Kris Draper. Derek Meech got the secondary assist at 17:24.
2nd period
FLYERS 4 - RED WINGS 1: The much-maligned-of-late Dan Carcilloo shows some hands moving in up the right wing, cutting in from the right circle and elevating the puck nicely on the backhand over Chris Osgood at 11:42. Matt Carle gets the primary assist for his lead pass. Chris Pronger gets the secondary helper. At the 14:34 mark, Carcillo gets an elbowing penalty for an open ice hit. At full speed it looked like the elbow came up only on the follow-through.
1st period
FLYERS 1 - RED WINGS 0: The Flyers get on the board at the 36 second mark on a 3-on-2 give-and-go rush. Scott Hartnell received a cross-ice feed from Jeff Carter near the blueline and put a shot on goal from the left wing. Chris Osgood left out a rebound on the shot and Briere deposited it into the net.
FLYERS 2 - RED WINGS 0: A blueline-to-blueline flip pass from Claude Giroux was controlled by Dan Carcillo. He shot the puck toward the net and Mika Pyorala tucked in the fluttering puck near the opposite post at 7:01.
FLYERS 2 - RED WINGS 1: Jonathan Ericsson's shot from the point changed direction and went in at 9:28. Ericsson is being credited as of now with an unassisted goal. Seconds earlier, Ryan Parent had saved a goal by sweeping a loose rebound from the crease while boxing out Mattias Ritola.
FLYERS 3 - RED WINGS 1: A faceoff win by Claude Giroux turns into a goal seconds later. Mika Pyorala gained the puck from Kimmo Timonen at the bottom of the circle and fed across the goal mouth. James van Riemsdyk, parked right in front of the net, steered the puck past Osgood on the backhand at 15:04.
Flyers outshot Detroit, 13-8.
Starting lineups
Flyers
Hartnell - Carter - Briere
Gagne - Richards- Kaspar
JVR - Giroux - Pyorala
Carcillo - Powe - Ward
Pronger - Carle
Timonen - Coburn
Parent - Syvret
Emery
[Boucher]
Red Wings
Leino - Filppula - Bertuzzi
Draper - Abdelkader - Eaves
Ritola - Newbury - Williams
Reino - Enmmerton - Tardif
Lidstrom - Rafalski
Ericsson - Lebda
Kolosov - Meech
Osgood
[McCollum]
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The Flyers made four additional roster cuts earlier today. Forwards Krys Kolanos and Jared Ross, and defensemen Sean Curry and Joey Mormina have been sent to the Phantoms.
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One positive early sign in the farm system. Goaltending prospect Joacim "Sunshine" Eriksson has looked very strong in his first three pro-level starts in Sweden for Allsvenskan team Leksand. He's 2-0-1 with a shutout to his credit and a save percentage over 93%.
On Sunday, Eriksson's team lost, 4-3, in a game that ended with a 10-shooter shootout. One of the goals he allowed in regulation came via penalty shot. Another was scored on a powerplay. Eriksson stopped 38 of 41 shots for the game and gave his club a chance to win on a night where Leksand mustered only 20 shots.
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The pressbox at the Wachovia Center is being graced tonight by the presence of the legendary Gordie Howe. He's seated next to his should-be Hall of Famer son (and my all-time hockey idol) Mark.
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You can order
Pelle Lindbergh: Behind the White Mask at
Barnes & Noble, via
Amazon or through
Middle Atlantic Press.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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