Update 12:00 PM EDT
The Flyers held an optional skate late this morning. Per the beat writers, Ilya Bryzgalov only appeared briefly but is set to start tonight.
Danny Briere (who took treatment after Game 4), Jaromir Jagr and James van Riemsdyk did not participate in the skate. Briere and Jagr are expected to play. JVR, coming back from foot surgery, appears more likely NOT to play quite yet, but that remains to be seen.
Nicklas Grossmann is not there, as expected. It looks like Erik Gustafsson will start in his place, although Brandon Manning also skated.
PREVIEW 7:00 AM EDT
Dealing with the adversity of some key injuries and coming off a frightful 10-3 beatdown in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, the Philadelphia Flyers will attempt to end the series tonight when they return to the Consol Energy Center to take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly and nationally on NBCSN in the U.S. and TSN in Canada.
On Wednesday night, the Flyers got off to a good start for once and converted three first-period power play chances into goals to take leads of 1-0 and 3-2. Unfortunately, the rest of the game was a disaster. Bad rebounds, defensive breakdowns, a parade of undisciplined penalties, a few awful turnovers and outstanding puck movement by the Penguins' power play was the order of the day.
To make matters worse, the Flyers lost shutdown defenseman Nicklas Grossmann to a concussion. A combination of a shoulder or elbow to the head by Evgeni Malkin in the first period and a big hit by Tyler Kennedy in the second period forced the big Swede out of the game. He is officially "day-to-day with an upper body injury," but everyone knows what the injury actually is. Marc-Andre Bourdon is also believed to have suffered a recurrent concussion (if so, it's his second within about two months).
It was apparent last game that there was something physically wrong with Ilya Bryzgalov. My best guess at the time was that the chip fracture in his right foot was still bothering him. His lateral movement was non-existent. Subsequent conflicting rumors have said it is a lower-body issue of another sort (perhaps a hip or groin), which may be the bi-product of trying to compensate for the original injury. Bryzgalov left practice yesterday after only 10 minutes on the ice.
Whatever the case, the Flyers deny that Bryzgalov is hurt or will be a game-time decision. But teams habitually deny injuries during the postseason in particular. If he does play, Bryzgalov will need to do a much better job with his rebound control as well as the players in front of him preventing cross-ice passes from reaching their target.
The Flyers may have James van Riemsdyk in the lineup tonight. He is not 100 percent healed from his broken foot yet, but has pronounced himself ready to go. He skated with the regulars yesterday, while Zac Rinaldo skated among the scratches.
On the Pittsburgh side, the club is also dealing with some blueline injuries along with the 3-1 deficit in the series. Paul Martin missed Wednesday's game and did not practice yesterday. Zbynek Michalek played in Game 4 after missing practices but was clearly hampered; he's expected to remain in the lineup. The Penguins get high-scoring winger James Neal and checking forward Craig Adams back from suspension tonight.
The Penguins dressed seven defensemen last game and only 11 forwards. Head coach Dan Bylsma said he liked how the arrangement worked out for his team. It may continue tonight.
Discipline -- of both the defensive and emotional/physical restraint varieties -- has been the buzzword in the entire series. That is not about to change tonight. It would not be surprising if this is another tightly called game. Each club has been punishing the other with its power play, but the Flyers have done it in all four games while Pittsburgh has only started to get going in that department in the last two.
PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change)
FLYERS
Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Schenn - Briere - Simmonds
Talbot - Couturier - Van Riemsdyk
Wellwood - Read - Voracek
Timonen - Coburn
Carle - Gustafsson
Lilja - Kubina
Bryzgalov/ Bobrovsky
PENGUINS
Kunitz - Malkin - Neal
Sullivan - Crosby - Dupuis
Cooke - Staal - Kennedy
Adams - Vitale(?) - Park
Niskanen - Letang
Orpik - Michalek
Depres - Engelland
Strait (?) - (Letang)
Fleury
[Johnson]
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