Peter the Great will play! Sound the horns throughout Flyerdom! Foppa is back!

Peter Forsberg hasn't played on home ice in Philly since Nov. 29 during a 3-2 loss to Nashville. But he will be on the ice tomorrow against the Montreal Canadiens, he assured us today.

Now, here's the rub: his right skate boot still is not perfect; the right groin is healed; and everything remains a work in progress.

Did we mention he took a terrible spill at practice along the boards while making a cut off the right skate?

"It's what I usally do," he told me, laughing. At least Foppa has not lost his sense of humor.

“I have not played at home in a while,” he said. You need a schedule to figure out when he's in and when he's out, anymore.

Maybe the Flyers will roll out an orange 'n black carpet. No wait, they are doing that for Eric Desjardins tomorrow as part of his retirement ceremony.

So how does Foppa feel?

"Everything feels fine and hopefully, I will be in the lineup for a while …," he said. "We’re getting forward in the process of working with it.”

I asked him if he ever had any problems as a kid with shoes. (I wanted to say, 'ever have any trouble with Buster Browns as a kid?' but I realized they probably didn't have Buster Brown in Sweden).

I asked whether he has problems now with his right shoe given he had surgery. Foppa said shoes never bothered him. Just skates.

Skates have to feel perfect. Fit him perfect.

He told me that if you take an x-ray of his right foot in a boot, you can see a crooked foot even though the doctors say the foot is fine on examination.

He says he knows how his left foot feels and it is different than his right foot. He made a funny line about having the same feet for 30 years.

"It's not in my head," Foppa insisted.

**

Mike Richards and Geoff Sanderson received medical clearance to play but will not be in the lineup. Both still are not feeling quite right. They are recovering from abdominal surgery.

**

Bunch of guys missed practice today with the flu. It's going around the team.

**

Finally, on the train ride back from Washington, I swear I heard Anthony SanFilippo singing a couple lyrics from last spring's Philly Media CD: "No, no, no, we don't want to go to Buff-a-lo."

I hang with Bucky Gleason at Illio's.

Bucky introduced me to Illio's son, Dennis, and I vaguely remembered his father, the great Italian wrestler.

Great story. Great restaurant, great people to enjoy dinner with. Michael DiPaolo cooked us dinner. We took a dozen people there for the playoffs and closed the joint down.

What a night. Dennis entertained us with stories about his father and the business. It remains one of best nights on the road I have ever spent in sports.

Bravo Illio DiPaolo's!

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