WRAPUP
The Flyers rode a strong start, opportunistic offense and solid goaltending by Ray Emery to an easy 6-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite a 40-28 shot disadvantage for the game, the Flyers had the better of the play in the first and third periods. Carolina never appeared to be a threat at any point.
Philly took advantage of a horrendous goaltending performance by ex-Flyer Michael Leighton. Getting his first start of the season (one day after his wife gave birth to the couple's second child), Leighton struggled with rebound control and got himself out of position several times. The Flyers made him pay.
Daniel Laliberte got his first NHL goal in his first NHL game, cashing in a rebound from a severe angle. He later added an assist. The team also got a pair of tallies from Braydon Coburn spaced just (the first off a fortunate bounce created by James van Riemsdyk on the rush and a screened shot from the point) and single goals from van Riemsdyk (backhander in close), Matt Carle (a wraparound) and Scott Hartnell (deflection).
The Flyers lost Ryan Parent again during the game, with an apparent reinjury of the groin pull that forced him to miss the last few games. Another scary moment came when former Flyers defenseman Andrew Alberts went up high to check van Riemsdyk, who suffered a concussion earlier this month. The rookie got up and went back at Andrews.
PREVIEW
The inconsistent Flyers (5-4-1) return home today for a Halloween matinee against the disappointing Carolina Hurricanes (2-6-3). Philadelphia shut out Carolina on opening night, but after a 3-0 start, have been an underachieving team.
Up front, in the absence of Simon Gagne (hernias) and Daniel Briere (groin pull), the team will need youngsters Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk to assume greater offensive responsibilities. Of course, it all starts with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, neither of whom have been clicking offensively of late. Checking center Blair Betts is slated to return to the lineup today after recovering from a shoulder injury. The team has called up David Laliberte from Adirondack in order to round out the roster.
There are two changes on the blueline today. Ryan Parent (groin) is expected to be ready to start today. John Stevens plans to break up the struggling Braydon Coburn - Kimmo Timonen pairing and put Parent with Timonen.
Ray Emery, who has been OK but far from spectacular since the first two games of the season, will make his 10th start of the season today.
STARTING LINEUP
Hartnell - Richards - Giroux
Van Riemsdyk - Carter - Asham
Pyorala - Powe - Laperriere
Carcillo - Betts - Laliberte
Carle - Pronger
Parent - Timonen
Coburn - Syvret/Tollefsen
Emery
[Boucher]
*****
Paul Holmgren absolutely does not deserve a pass for his handling of the entire Randy Jones situation. The team now has dead cap space devoted to paying Jones half his salary to play for another club. Meanwhile, the number six spot in the blueline rotation remains a question mark. Whether you liked Jones or not, he is clearly a better NHL defenseman than either Danny Syvret or Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. The team admitted as much by trying to recall Jones after waiving him.
Once he was sent to Adirondack, re-entry waivers shouldn't have even been a consideration. In addition, it's inexcusable for Homer not to have a sense that Los Angeles -- an organization loaded with people who worked for the Flyers alongside Holmgren -- had interest in Jones at a discount price.
As much as it may sound nice to say the team "regained" half of Jones' salary, the truth of the matter is that really lost half his cap space. Only a Comcast accountant could be satisfied with recouping half the salary. It's of zero benefit to the Flyers hockey team.
*****
How predictable was it that the team has declared that Simon Gagne's hernias have nothing to do with his previous groin and hip injuries? That's called CYOA.
It's always the same old song and dance with these sorts of injuries. The sequence goes:
1) Player suffers groin injury
2) Injury is declared minor
3) Player returns ahead of schedule
4) Player struggles to generate skating speed
5) Player gets injured again
6) Injury is declared unrelated and/or the team swears it took every precaution.
The Flyers are hardly the only team that gets caught in this cycle, but they sure seem prone to it.
I'm sure Danny Briere's latest "lower body injury" will be quickly declared minor -- once it's finally admitted that he has a groin pull -- and Danny will swear he's feeling better and will be back in the lineup any day. Here's hoping there are no stories that involve the work "tweak" in the weeks to come.
****
In my new gig writing the
Daily Drop for Versus.com, I've gotten to take a closer look at every team in the NHL, especially those in the Western Conference. One thing that I've noticed is that there are easily 20 clubs in the NHL with a superior 60-minute work ethic (on a night-in and night-out basis) to the Flyers.
The Flyers talk about paying attention to detail, keeping their feet moving, and bearing down on the forecheck and backcheck. They'll often come out early and estabilish those positives only to get frustrated if things still don't break their or complacent if they do. The team markets itself as "relentless" but that's not how it plays, at least not often enough.
Last night's San Jose 3-1 win over Colorado was a good case in point of how a team needs to keep rolling on a night where they come out strong but can't get any separation on the scoreboard. Craig Anderson was (yet again) outstanding in net for the Avs, but the Sharks just kept coming at him and eventually scratched out the goals they needed to win. Watching the game, I got the sense it would probably have ended up as an L for the Flyers.
****
I will be doing book signings for the Pelle Lindbergh book on Nov. 4 at the Chester County Book Company (starting at 7 PM) and on the afternoon of Dec. 12 at the Barnes and Noble in Deptford, NJ.
You can order
Pelle Lindbergh: Behind the White Mask online at
Barnes & Noble, via
Amazon or through
Middle Atlantic Press.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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