You never know what you're going to get on a particular day when you walk into a dressing room.
After watching Ilya Bryzgalov over the last several weeks, I feel he has gotten his act together since coming back from the flu. Yeah, he had a couple gaffes in giving up the first goal on the first shot, but his game seems to be getting better.
He exudes confidence.
There weren't many players available to the media today. Danny Briere was one of them. I asked him whether he and his teammates could see the improvement in Bryz.
He said he saw that and added that what really impressed him was that Bryz had become a "better teammate."
When we explored what that segment meant I discovered what had been rumored for a while - that Bryz' teammates - the Leadership Group _ had met with him about his off-the-wall comments after games and told him to tone it down while shifting the conversation from himself to the "team."
“We’ve seen all kinds of Bryz this year,” Briere told me. “He’s never the same. He’s all over the place. But the last couple of weeks, he’s actually been a great teammate and hopefully, he stays that way.
“That’s the way it should be. If he wants the guys to keep playing hard for him, he needs to be a great teammate the way he has been lately, and it’s been fun having him around, too.”
Briere's comments are honest, blunt and show that the Flyers are now embracing Bryz. A lot of fans were ready to exile Bryz back to Russia in recent weeks. I give Briere high marks for giving us insight.
Fans are railing against Briere this evening because of his 18-game scoring drought. They see Briere as being negative. I see him as telling us a story that started out bad but has turned around.
There's no pleasing Flyer fans in this city. You're either naively positive or overly negative or stupid.
I gave up a long time ago trying to please people. Briere's story has a positive outlook. If fans can't see that, well, my eye doctor on Bustleton Ave. has appointments on Friday.
Here's the full story on CSNPhilly.com:
click here 
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