Daniel Briere (day-to-day with a "lower body injury" although he seemed fine after the game last night) and Simon Gagne (day-to-day with the flu) missed practice today for the Flyers.

In order to have a full complement of players, the Flyers had to call up Jared Ross and Darroll Powe for practice today. When teams do that, it counts against the salary cap calculation. But the Flyers had no choice.

Gagne and Briere both hope to play tomorrow night against the Devils.

****

Last night marked the first time a Flyers game overlapped with a Phillies World Series game since October 23, 1993. On that night, a Flyers-Winnipeg game ovelapped with Game 6 of the Phillies-Blue Jays World Series.

It was one of the lowest feelings I've ever experienced as someone who grew up loving hockey and baseball above all else. I flipped back and forth between the two games on television.

The Flyers scored six goals against the Jets in a wild seesaw affair, but wound up losing, 9-6. Teemu Selänne had two goals and Keith Tkachuk had a hat trick for the Jets, while Mikael Renberg had his first big night as a Flyer with a pair of goals. Flyers coach Terry Simpson left goalie Tommy Söderström out to absorb all nine goals.

We all know how the baseball game in Toronto turned out that night.

Well, last night, I had a serious case of deja vu. The Flyers play a wide-open, seesaw game against an opponent from the other conference (this time the San Jose Sharks). They score six goals, yet spend most of the game trailing and end up losing.

After going to the the locker room and writing my postgame wrapup, I went down to the pavillion to watch the 8th and 9th innings of the Phillies-Rays World Series game. I was standing about four feet away from "Dancin' Shawn" Hill (who, by the way, had several very attractive young ladies come over wanting to have their picture taken with him).

When the bottom of the ninth inning rolled around and Brad Lidge came in for the Phillies, I kept thinking "At least let THIS one turn out differently than last time."

A 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth later, and the sense of reliving history disappeared.

*****

Scott Hartnell is one Flyers player who deserves credit for the way he's played on a game-in and game-out basis this season. Every night, he's out there trying to make things happen: digging for pucks, finishing his checks, agitating the opposition.

Scottie Upshall rounded into form last night, too. When he plays the way he did last night, he's a sparkplug in the lineup.

****

One player I haven't talked much about this season so far is Arron Asham. Quite frankly, I don't even know what to write. He's done a whole lot of nothing in the ice time he's gotten.

Asham is a guy who needs to play nasty, edgy hockey to be effective. But there have been times where opponents could be wearing eggshell uniforms and you wouldn't get a drop of yolk on the ice when Asham has been out there. He hasn't hit, hasn't forced turnovers, hasn't dug free many pucks, hasn't fought and hasn't scored.

I'm not singling out only Asham, believe me. He's hardly the Flyers' biggest problem, but he hasn't remotely been part of the solution, either. His play has been symptomatic of the entire team's uneven play so far.

Asham has a benchmark game coming up tomorrow. I expect him to fired up to prove the Devils made a mistake by letting him go. So far, he's been proving Lou Lamoriello right.

****

Last night, Andreas Nödl became the first Austrian player to suit for the Flyers in a regular season game. Here's a quick (and very unofficial) count of all European players who've suited up for the Flyers in the regular season.

Feel free to mention any I've forgotten in the comments section. It's a top-of-mind list and I'm sure I've forgotten players. Later, I'll add the ones who slipped through cracks.


Czech Republic (20): Petr Svoboda, Vaclav Prospal, Miroslav Dvorak, Martin Hostak, Jiri Latal, Petr Nedved, Roman Cechmanek, Jiri Dopita, Michal Sykora, Roman Vopat, Frantisek Kucera, Tomas Divisek, Vaclav Pletka, Petr Hubacek, Pavel Brendl, Jan Hlavac, Josef Beranek, Milos Holan, Jaroslav Modry

Sweden (17):Pelle Lindbergh, Peter Forsberg, Mikael Renberg, Pelle Eklund, Kim Johnsson, Kjell Samuelsson, Ulf Samuelsson, Thomas Eriksson, Marcus Ragnarsson, Bo Berglund, Magnus Roupé, Tommy Söderström, Patrik Juhlin, Mattias Timander, David Printz, Mikael Andersson, Lars Jonsson

Russia (12):Dmitry Yushkevich, Andrei Lomakin, Slava Butsayev, Valeri Zelepukin, Alexei Zhamnov, Anatoli Semenov, Danny Markov, Vladimir Malakhov, Dmitri Tertyshny, Denis Tolpeko, Andrei Kovalenko, Dmitri Afanasenkov

Finland (10):Ilkka Sinisalo, Sami Kapanen, Kimmo Timonen, Jussi Timonen, Antero Niittymäki, Lasse Kukkonen, Joni Pitkänen, Ossi Väänänen, Janne Niinimaa, Tomi Kallio

Slovakia (4):Michal Handzus, Radovan Somik, Branko Radivojevic, Stefan Ruzicka

Ukraine (2):Ruslan Fedotenko, Alexei Zhitnik

Germany (1):Dennis Seidenberg

Austria (1): Andreas Nödl

Switzerland (1): Luca Sbisa

Lithuania (1):Dainus Zubrus

Norway (1):Patrick Thoresen

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