FRIDAY QUICK HITS
* The Flyers held practice at the Skate Zone today in preparation for the home-and-home set with the Penguins this weekend. With a three-in-four schedule game schedule coming up, today's practice was kept brief. There were no line rushes or heavy skating today.
* Cal Heeter has been returned to the Phantoms. Ray Emery took his second straight full day of practice today. No direct word from the coach on the goaltending rotation for the weekend, but there were the subtlest of hints that Steve Mason will go tomorrow and then a decision will be made about Sunday based on what happens in tomorrow's game.
* In his post-practice session with the media, Flyers head coach Craig Berube emphasized the following themes in approaching the Pens: Bear down on faceoffs to win puck possession and get pucks in deep as best as possible. Do not get caught on the wrong side of the puck, because it is exceptionally difficult to recover once the Penguins have numbers.
* After playing the NHL's number two ranked penalty kill in Wednesday's game in Philly against the Devils -- and going 0-for-6, despite good puck movement on two of them -- the Flyers are going up against the NHL's number-one ranked PK. One thing Pittsburgh does, even more than New Jersey, is aggressively challenges the puck. There may be an open man but the power play personnel had better be very quick in finding him. The Penguins have very active sticks and dart into the passing lanes as fast as any team in the NHL.
* I asked Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jakub Voracek and Craig Berube whether there was anything from the Flyers' 2-1 road win over the Penguins in Nov. that could be applied to the games this weekend, or whether that game is now too long ago to matter. The gist of most of the replies was that it showed they could win a low-scoring game against a top opponent.
Many Flyers-Penguins games in recent years have been high-scoring affairs in which no lead is safe for either side. The last meeting was a bit different. The Flyers successfully nursed a one-goal lead through the third period, courtesy of a stellar game by Ray Emery (especially in a first period dominated by Pittsburgh) and a higher-than-normal volume of missed net attempts by the Pens. The Flyers were the better team in the second period and the third period was fairly even.
Heading into that game, the Flyers were coming off a 5-0 shutout win against Ottawa in the first game of a three-in-four-night road trip. The game against the Senators was arguably the best 60 minutes of hockey the Flyers played all season (although the game in San Jose was right up there minus a bad shift or two in the first period). Philly more or less carried that over through the majority of the game against Pittsburgh.
With the way the Flyers have hemorrhaged goals against of late, I don't know if they well-suited right now to playing a 2-1 game. They might have a better shot in a more "typical" game against the Penguins where it's a nightmare for the goaltenders on both sides but in which the Flyers have the depth of scoring to put together a few goals in a row and basically outscore their mistakes.
* Zac Rinaldo's day-to-day ailment was a neck issue. He said he is feeling much better now. He should be back in the lineup tomorrow.
* It was nice to see longtime Flyers equipment manager Jim "Turk" Evers at the Skate Zone today, visiting the team. Turk is looking and doing very well after some serious health issues and was in great spirits today.
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