One trend that bears watching in the games to come is whether Peter Laviolette will continue to scratch Jody Shelley or if another player will come out of the lineup. With Lava you never know -- and you have to trust his judgment because he's shown that he usually pushes the right buttons -- but here is my best guess.
With the club having won its last two games and 8 of its last 10, I think he will go with the same lineup against Carolina on Thursday that he used against Dallas on Saturday, which would include Carcillo in the lineup over Shelley and goaltender Brian Boucher being rewarded for his excellent game against the Stars with another start.
The line with Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux has established strong chemistry over the last month, but I noticed in the Dallas game that there were a couple shifts where Lava double-shifted either James van Riemsdyk or Ville Leino in lieu of Nikolay Zherdev. In fact, Leino's game winning goal against Nashville came when he was out with Carter and Giroux rather than usual linemates Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell
Zherdev, who played 10:46 in the Dallas game, has been held off the scoreboard in the four games since his goal and assist against Chicago (amidst a dominant game by his entire line). Given the manner in which Laviolette has handled Zherdev's ice time, I think the skipped shifts in the Dallas game were a warning to Zherdev that he needs to step up his focus and intensity level again to hold his spot. Otherwise, he's the most likely candidate to sit out in favor of Shelley getting back in.
*****
Today would have been the 15th birthday of Daron Richardson, the daughter of former Flyers defenseman Luke Richardson who took her own life in November.
CTV Ottawa ran a must-read
article today about the mental illness awareness campaign that Luke and Stephanie Richardson have organized in conjunction with the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health.
As part of the campaign, the family has asked people to wear something purple (it was their daughter's favorite color) on Feb. 8 as a means of showing support for the work of the Daron Richardson Fund and for the treatment and further research into the both the physiological and psychological aspects of mental health issues such as depression, especially for adolescents.
I can only imagine the unspeakable pain that the Richardsons are -- and, in many ways, will always be -- going through. They are channeling their grief into a way to help other families prevent such tragedies in the future and to help others understand that mental illness is something that deserves compassion, not scorn or ridicule. For that, the Richardson clan has my everlasting respect.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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