GAME 5 MEDICAL UPDATES:

Chris Pronger was more or less downgraded today from "expected to play" to "decision at morning skate" according to my sources.

Jeff Carter is OUT. He has a right knee sprain and may not be back the rest of the series. He was wearing a brace in Buffalo and is trying to walk in it, let alone figure out how to skate in it.

**

One of the great things about Lindy Ruff is that he is just like Ken Hitchcock going back to those Flyers-Sabres wars of past.

He knows how to yank a chain and get a reaction. He know how to use the media. I think I would enjoy covering Lindy Ruff - if he weren't in Buf-a-low - because of his demeanor and candor.

Really, he's a Philly guy.

Before this series began, Ruff said he missed having Hitch around. He knows he can't goad Peter Laviolette into this mess.

So when Lindy goes out and rips the Flyers a new one, up and down, and uses the word "whining" five times in less than two minutes, I gotta be impressed. Lindy knows how to push the buttons.

From my story on CSNPhilly.com:

“I just feel that they’re doing a lot of whining,” Ruff said at his Thursday presser. “They’re really doing a lot of whining.

“I didn’t hear any whining when they had 10 power plays in Philly, and I didn’t hear any whining when they power plays in the first game were lopsided. But all of a sudden there’s all this whining about, ‘Were getting away with murder.’

“That’s a bunch of crap. That’s for the media. That’s for the officials to read. That’s, ‘Here, let’s get the next call.’ That’s a bunch of crap. Let’s just play.”

I went on CSN's "Ultimate Goal" tonight with J.J. and Billy Clement and both of them are primed for tomorrow night's Game 5 and what the energy will be like at Wells Fargo, not to mention what kind of general nastiness we can expect in the game.

I expect a war. Lavy _ who has disappointed me in this series b/c he won't get involved in the War of Words - wants his team to use that energy and bring it on the Sabres.

I have to admit, I am surprised at how hard the Sabres are banging the Flyers. I think they are the more physical team in the series. Not by much, but it is impressive. Someone banging on the Flyers.

Here's your pick of Flyers on CSNPhilly.com:

click here

p.s. Like that pix of Marty Biron?

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