Mini-preview 8:00 AM EST

The Flyers (40-16-6) have had four days to think about their miserable performance in Ottawa on Saturday and to prepare to put in a much more focus and energetic effort tonight when they play the Toronto Maple Leafs (28-27-9) at the Wells Fargo Center. The Leafs are another opponent that may not have an impressive overall record but which has played much better hockey of late.

Tonight's game is the third of four meetings between the teams this season. The Flyers won at home, 5-2, on Oct. 23 and 4-1 in Toronto on Dec. 9. But the Leafs enter this game with a 9-2-4 record since the All-Star break. After beating Pittsburgh in OT last night, Toronto moved to within two points of the eighth-seeded Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Standings.

Per Tim Panaccio, Chris Pronger and Blair Betts are likely to be able to play tonight. James van Riemsdyk (lower body injury) practiced sparingly yesterday but is likely to miss tonight's game. Ditto Dan Carcillo, who has been laid up with the flu and was not able to practice yesterday. The team has also recalled Ben Holmstrom from Adirondack. Because it is past the trade deadline now, the Flyers need not worry about the roster limit by calling up one player.

Peter Laviolette held several intensive practices this week in order to combat the sort of complacency that has seemingly affected the club since the All-Star break and during lengthy breaks in the schedule. Typically, in the first game back after a four-day break in the schedule, you worry about the passing and sloppy turnovers early in the game. However, Philly should have an on-paper advantage as the game progresses, with Toronto playing on back-to-back nights on the road and the Flyers coming in better rested.

There are quite a few Flyers players who need to step up their games again for the club to start showing more consistency. One such player is Danny Briere, who has struggled since the All-Star break. However, he has had a lot of success against the Leafs this season (3 goals, 4 points in the two games) and over the course of his entire career (34 GP, 17 G, 19 A, 36 PTS).

PROJECTED LINEUPS

FLYERS

Nodl - Richards - Versteeg
Hartnell - Briere - Leino
Zherdev - Giroux - Carter
Shelley - Betts - Powe

Pronger - Carle
Coburn - Timonen
Meszaros - O'Donnell

Boucher/Bobrovsky


MAPLE LEAFS

Kessel - Grabovski - Kulemin
MacArthur - Bozak - Lupul
Brown - Boyce - Armstrong
Crabb - Brent - Sjostrom

Phaneuf - Aulie
Schenn - Gunarsson
Komisarek - Lebda

Reimer
[Gigueure]

Join the Discussion: » Comments » Post New Comment

» Quick Hits: Memorial Cup Final, NHL Combine, TIFH

» Quick Hits: London Stays Unbeaten, TIFH

» Quick Hits: Gendron, TIFH

» Quick Hits: Memorial Cup, TIFH

» Quick Hits: Flyers Daily, Memorial Cup, Worlds, 1975 Cup Anniversary