Pavel Kubina packed his bags last Thursday at the Flyers’ practice facility in Voorhees. Before his exit meeting with Peter Laviolette, Kubina was one of the few Flyers to pack all of their equipment.

It was time.

For Kubina, his strange, three-month odyssey in Philadelphia was finally over.

It was time to return to his home in St. Petersburg, Fla., where his five-year-old daughter was waiting.

When he left, though, Kubina did it with a smile on his face. He was not bitter that he was a healthy scratch in 6 out of the Flyers’ 11 Stanley Cup playoff games. He was not angry that he was shuffled to the sidelines after such a small sample size of an audition with the Flyers in March and April.

Surprisingly, Kubina was thankful for the opportunity.

“I would have liked to be playing, that is for sure,” Kubina told the Daily News. “But this was a great experience for me. I leave here knowing this was a tight group. I had so much fun. I had a chance to play for this team, one of the top organizations in the league. I really liked it here.”

Kubina was acquired on Feb. 18 from Tampa Bay in exchange for Phantoms forward Jon Kalinski, Florida’s 2^nd round pick in 2012, and the Flyers’ fourth round pick in 2013.

He played 22 total games with the Flyers, including playoffs.

Now, after the fact, it would be easy to sit back and point to the trade and call it a failure. What exactly, though, would the Flyers have done without Kubina? After Kubina’s arrival, the Flyers went without Kimmo Timonen, Andrej Meszaros, Nick Grossmann and even Marc-Andre Bourdon, before Erik Gustafsson came in and bailed them out in the playoffs.

Yes, the Flyers moved two surplus draft picks to get him. But Kubina plugged a big hole for the Flyers. It’s easy to wonder where the Flyers would have finished without the trades of Kubina and Grossmann four days apart in February.

Kubina probably wasn’t even utilized in the right role. The biggest knock on Kubina was his speed. His conditioning wasn’t top notch when he joined the team since he went more than a week in limbo with the Lightning not playing. Tampa Bay sat him out while deciding where to trade him.

Kubina averaged 17:19 in ice time with the Flyers, well off his 22:02 average over 970 career NHL games.

By the time the playoffs rolled around, Kubina was a healthy scratch in Game 1 against Pittsburgh. The Flyers simply hadn’t seen enough of him to instill trust.

“In the playoffs, there was nothing I could do about it,” Kubina said. “Sometimes, that happens.”

Kubina, 37, isn’t sure what’s next. He is coming off a two-year deal in which he made $3.85 million per season, a big number for a player whose career is clearly on the decline. He waived his limited no-trade clause to come to the Flyers in February.

If healthy, Kubina would make a decent depth defenseman somewhere at a significantly reduced salary. In the $1 million range, he would be a decent veteran presence to round out a defense crops. He is a Stanley Cup winner, a proven shutdown defender, and a physical presence with a right-handed shot the Flyers could use. And his positive attitude always helps.

“Hopefully I can play for a few more years,” Kubina said. “I love this game, that’s why I came here. If the Flyers called me, I would answer. I think Paul Holmgren did a great job with this team. If you look at this team, you look at their age with 10 guys around 20-22 years, you realize how much potential and future they have. They’re going to be in great shape for the next 5-to-10 years. They’re just going to get better.”

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

When evaluating a season that does not end in a championship, the question invariably boils down to: Do you consider this season a success?

At first glance, it is easy to consider the Flyers’ 2011-12 campaign a success in the big picture, given the strides made by rookies, the abundance of scoring depth, and the flakiness of their goaltending.

For me, I have a tough time saying it is a complete success, just based on the opportunity squandered.

To listen to Kimmo Timonen describe it, after the Fleyrs beat the Penguins in the first round, he considered every remaining team as very “beatable.”

The Rangers have needed seven games in both of their first two rounds. Washington has trouble scoring at times. And the Devils finished below the Flyers in the standings.

Once the Flyers rid the playoffs of the Penguins, their path to represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup final was clear and well established. Perhaps that is why the Flyers ended up falling in the second round.

The point is that there aren’t going to be many opportunities like that, where the best team in the tournament is knocked out in the first round.

Here are a few random opinions on the season:

PAUL HOLMGREN:

“I think we had a decent year. I am disappointed we are not playing. When you start the year, your goal is to win the Stanley Cup. The fact that we are sitting here talking today, I am disappointed. I am excited about how our team is going to look next year. That is what I am excited about.

“We knew we had a good group of young guys. I think the coaches did a good job of putting them in situations and giving them roles that keep them excelling. To their credit they did. For [Sean] Couturier to play the role he did in the playoffs as a shut down centerman and make plays gives you a glimpse of what he is going to do in the future. It is pretty neat.”

MAXIME TALBOT:

“Talking from experience, I can definitely look at this year as a great step for this organization.  Meaning that, when you look at all the rookies on this team that played in their first playoff game, I can go back 6 years ago with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and you look at the core we had that year and we got totally beat against the Ottawa Senators who went on to the Stanley Cup Finals, they were just too good for us we lost in the first round, five games and it went really quick.  So you look at the chance we had playing against Pittsburgh 6 games and then losing that way against the Devils with high expectations, so it’s disappointing but at the same time it stings.  What we can take from that is big for this team.”

CLAUDE GIROUX:

“We made a lot of changes. At the start of the season I think yes. Like I said, we have a lot of young players and guys care for each other. We have a good group of guys here; guys want to play for each other. Like I said, we come to the rink every day and we are happy to be here. That is obviously a pretty good step.”

SCOTT HARTNELL:

“I think it was a great season. There was obviously a lot of change, coming in here with new faces, the young guys and you never know how that’s going to turn out kind of like my first year here in Philadelphia. It was Danny B, Kimmo, Jason Smith, Lupul, all those guys were new guys and the chemistry that we had right away was great and the same thing happened this year. So, looking forward I like our chances of our guys getting some experience on them and having bigger and better years.”

PETER LAVIOLETTE:

“I think that there’s always an adjustment period for players when they come in here to a big city.  The thought of this group, or the majority of this group moving forward leaves a real positive taste in everybody’s mouth.  There’s really not much else you can do, you can’t talk about would haves or could haves, it just leaves that hollow feeling right now.  But moving forward, it’s a positive outlook.”

Your thoughts?

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

If the Flyers are going to avoid elimination on Tuesday night in Game 5 against New Jersey, they are going to have to do it without their top point producer and leader.

The NHL has decided to suspend Flyers forward Claude Giroux for one game as a result of his high hit on New Jersey’s Dainius Zubrus late in the second period on Sunday night.

“Claude Giroux delivered an illegal check to the head,” NHL vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan said in a video explanation (embedded below). “After pulling even with Zubrus on the backcheck, Giroux chops down Zubrus’ stick. Well after the puck has been chipped into the corner, Giroux comes across Zubrus’ body with his shoulder, making principal point of contact with Zubrus’ head.”

Shanahan used the term “reckless” to describe Giroux’s choice of contact.

“We feel this reckless picking of the head rises to the level of supplemental discipline,” Shanahan said. “We have taken into consideration that though he was shaken up, Zubrus returned to the game and finished it.”

This is Giroux’s first suspension or fine in his four-year NHL career.

Shanahan pointed out that Giroux displayed frustration – by turning his back to the play to continue complaining to an official about a missed call – which added to the intent factor.

Giroux issued a statement through the Flyers’ public relations staff that says he “respects” Shanahan’s decision and “wants to move on.” Giroux said he had a 15 to 20 minute hearing with Shanahan over the phone on Monday morning.

He was originally given a two-minute minor for head contact on Sunday night.

"I'm not a dirty player," Giroux told reporters on Sunday. "I don't want to hit guys on the head. I was just trying to finish my hit there."

Then, later, when asked specifically about a review by dean of discipline Brendan Shanahan, Giroux said, "I think I should be fine. He was leaning in. At the same time, [the Devils' Anton] Volchenkov also hit [the Flyers' Wayne] Simmonds in the face with an elbow. They can look at that one, too."

For his part, Zubrus declined to comment on whether it was a dirty hit.

"I'm not going to comment on whether it was dirty or not," Zubrus said. "It's playoffs. They try to hit us, we try to hit them. There's plenty of hits that I guess you can say are questionable, or whatever. I think he got a penalty. I think it was deserved. That's about it."

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

Video: Danny Briere had a goal and an assist but it wasn't enough as the Flyers fell to the Devils 4-3 in overtime. The Daily News' Frank Seravalli discusses Game 3 with CineSport's Brian Clark.

NEWARK, N.J. -- After dispatching the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 1, the Flyers have captured the city of Philadelphia. Or, at least that's what the ratings say.

We’ve already noted that the NBC ratings for Game 1 against New Jersey on Sunday were up 121 percent from last year’s Game 1 against Boston.

But the numbers from Game 2 were truly staggering for hockey in Philadelphia.

According to the overnight ratings, the Flyers’ Game 2 loss on NBC Sports Network on Tuesday night nearly doubled the combined local viewership of both the Sixers’ playoff win in Chicago and the Phillies’ game in Atlanta.

Here are the numbers, as provided by the NHL:

Flyers on NBC Sports Network (7:30p-10:15p) - 12.4 rating, 19 share, 372,000 households and 607,000 viewers 

Sixers on TNT (8:15-10:45p) - 2.2 rating, 3 share, 67,000 households, 95,000 viewers 
Sixers on CSN-PH (8:00p-10:30p) - 1.6 rating, 2 share, 49,000 households, 56,000 viewers 
Sixers on combined TNT/CSN-PH - 116,000 gross households and 151,000 gross viewers 

Phillies on TCN (7:00p-10:00p) - 4.8 rating, 8 share, 145,000 households and 194,000 viewers

Sixers (combined TNT/CSN-PH) and Phillies (on TCN) combined ratings: 261,000 households, 345,000 viewers.

Nationally, Game 2 drew 1.29 million viewers - still a relatively small number among major four sports - and it was the third most-watched game nationally on cable in the playoffs. Here is the list, courtesy of Puck the Media: (The Flyers were involved in four of them)

Top 10 Most-watched Games of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Cable
1. Washington vs. NY Rangers, Game 2 (4/30/12, NBCSN): 1.53 million
2. Washington vs. Boston, Game 7 (4/25/12, NBCSN): 1.32 million
3. New Jersey vs. Philadelphia, Game 2 (5/1/12, NBCSN): 1.29 million
4. Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh, Game 5 (4/20/12, NBCSN): 1.07 million
5. Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Game 4 (4/18/12, NBCSN): 1.03 million
6. Ottawa vs. NY Rangers, Game 7 (4/26/12, NBCSN): 984,000
7. New Jersey vs. Florida, Game 7 (4/26/12, NBCSN): 867,000
8. NY Rangers vs. Ottawa, Game 6 (4/23/12, NBCSN): 861,000
9. Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh, Game 1 (4/11/12, NBCSN): 847,000
10. Los Angeles vs. Vancouver, Game 5 (4/22/12, NBCSN): 817,000

The puck drops on Game 3 at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday night in Newark on the NBC Sports Network.

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

NEWARK, N.J. – Since it opened in 2007, the Prudential Center in gritty downtown Newark has never been confused for an arena with a hard and fast ice surface. It’s a common complaint in Pittsburgh’s Consol Energy Center, a seemingly forgotten aspect of building operations for some of the NHL’s newest stadiums.

The Prudential Center took an all-time hit last round when Panthers coach Kevin Dineen ripped the ice conditions before Game 3 against the Devils.

Yes, the coach of the Florida Panthers, home to usually the worst ice on the planet, was critical of the ice in New Jersey. That’s saying something.

“If the quality of ice is anything like it was this morning at the skate, I don't know,” Dineen said. “I think their customer service probably will be pretty embarrassed to see that's what they are putting out there for people to see.”

Heading into Game 3 one round later, the ice conditions are the biggest thing to watch for the Flyers on an otherwise quiet Thursday morning. The Flyers held an optional morning skate after a brief practice on Wednesday.

Normally, they wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but it’s a perfect storm for the ice making staff in Newark.

That’s because New Jersey’s favorite son, Bruce Springsteen, made the sold out Prudential Center crowd roar late into the night on Wednesday. It was Springsteen’s final stop on tour before heading to Europe and unbelievably his first-ever concert in Newark.

With a late changeover, little time to work on the ice, and messy conditions outside, it could be an interesting morning. It’s supposed to be nearly 70 degrees in North Jersey on Thursday with 80 percent humidity.

The sloppy ice would seem to benefit the Devils, who are already used to the conditions, and a valuable tool to slow down the faster Flyers.

Just something to keep an eye on before puck drop…

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

The Stanley Cup playoffs are the annual spring rite of gamesmanship in ice hockey.

In addition to the head games, the actual games are often filled with matchups inside themselves.

For the Flyers, and specifically Sean Couturier’s checking line, a lot of time and energy has been spent getting matchups and shutting down the opposition’s key players.

It was apparent again on Tuesday night in Game 2. Couturier was to stick on Zach Parise like a vulture on a carcass. Look at the shift chart.

Parise took 25 shifts over 20:13 of ice time. Couturier was on the ice at the same time as Parise for 12 of those shifts. There were 7 other shifts in which Parise or Couturier were not on the ice at the same time, but there was a penalty. That leaves just 5 pure, even-strength shifts in which Couturier and Parise were not on the ice at the same time – and 3 of them occurred after the surging Devils already tied the game in the third period.

That is clearly the matchup coach Peter Laviolette wanted.

That allows the Devils to play their own matchup game. Claude Giroux was on the ice for 21 shifts over 21:05. Just 6 of those shifts were played without Marek Zidlicky and Adam Henrique in his grill.

Giroux was quiet. The playoffs’ leading scorer was held without a point for the first time since April 11, in Game 1 against Pittsburgh.

Now, with the series shifting to New Jersey, Devils coach Pete DeBoer will have the final say in the matchup game courtesy of the last change.

It’s tough to second guess Laviolette, with all of the success he’s had as an NHL coach. That is not the purpose of this post. It's impossible to know what kind of impact the matchups had on Giroux's game. His minutes were the fewest he's played since Game 4 against Pittsburgh.

Without Ilya Kovalchuk, there are two schools of thought. One is that it solidifies the matchup game, taking any doubt out of the equation as to which line the Flyers should target. Parise’s unit is the clear choice in that case.

The other, which we sit and wonder about on a slow Wednesday, is whether any of that stuff matters. With Kovalchuk out of the lineup, there is a clear and undeniable mismatch in the balance of talent between the two teams. It was necessary against Pittsburgh because they have three of the top centers - and two of the best players - in the NHL on different lines. That other school of thought is that you throw out the matchups and just play. 

Either way, play is something the Flyers didn’t do. Matchups or not.

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

After Game 1 on Sunday, when asked if he was healthy, Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk responded with a “yes,” and abruptly ended his news conference.

Turns out, Kovalchuk is not healthy.

Kovalchuk did not make the trip to Philadelphia with the Devils and will not play in Game 2 on Tuesday night at the Wells Fargo Center, as confirmed by New Jersey president Lou Lamoriello.

According to Lamoriello, Kovalchuk is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. There is no word as to Kovalchuk’s status for the rest of the series.

“Progressively, it’s to a point where it’s not positive for him or the team, if he’s not 100 percent” Lamoriello said. “These things happen at times and right now I have total confidence in that locker room and the players that are in that room.”

There are many theories as to what it could be, ranging anywhere from a lower-back problem to a groin issue that affects his skating. Lamoriello would only say that it has been bothering him since the middle of the Devils’ first round series against Florida.

Kovalchuk, of course, was held without a shot in Game 1 for the first time since Nov. 23, 2011.

Patrik Elias admitted that Kovalchuk looked different to him over the past few games.

Not having Kovalchuk is a good omen for the Flyers, since the Devils have yet to beat Philadelphia this season when Kovalchuk is held off the scoresheet. In the three games the Devils have beaten the Flyers, Kovalchuk has scored 8 points. He has one in their four losses.

Tim Sestito, the brother of Flyers injured forward Tom Sestito, is not replacing Kovalchuk in the lineup, as expected. With Jacob Josefson out with an injury still, defenseman Peter Harrold will move up to play right wing and rookie Adam Larsson will make his playoff debut on Tuesday night.

Harrold also took Kovalchuk's spot on the power play. Larsson was drafted four spots higher than Sean Couturier (No. 4 overall) in last summer's draft.

The Flyers have never lost a series (18-0) when leading two-games-to-none.

Expected lineup:
Parise – Elias – Clarkson
Ponikarovsky – Zajac – Zubrus
Sykora – Henrique – Bernier
Gionta – Carter – Harrold*

Larsson* – Volchenkov
Fayne – Greene
Salvador - Zidlicky

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers

The numbers are staggering.

On Sunday, the Flyers had two cracks at an overtime win within the first 4:46, when Danny Briere finally delivered a Game 1 win over the Devils.

If you feel like overtime games have been ending quickly, you’re not alone.

Through the first 53 games of this Stanley Cup playoff season, 18 have gone to overtime (33.9 percent).

The overtime in 8 out of those 18 games (44 percent) hasn’t even made it past the three-minute mark. Fans barely have enough time to grab a beer during the intermission and get back to their seats to see the action.

The total overtime played in 18 games is 91:15, making the average overtime length just over 5 minutes at 5:04. Just three games have gone to a double overtime this playoff.

The Flyers, who are 2-0 in overtime this spring, have played an average of 3:29 in overtime. Jake Voracek delivered the game-winner in Game 1 against Pittsburgh at 2:23. Briere scored at 4:46 on Sunday.

If Briere’s first goal, with the distinct kicking motion, hadn’t been disallowed at the 2:13 mark, the Flyers’ average overtime minutes played would have dropped to 2:17.

Voracek chalked up the increased scoring chances to the fresh ice that comes with playoff overtime hockey. Eric Wellwood said he believes teams put an emphasis on early pressure. Hockey purists say the quick goals are a product of the open style game since the 2005 lockout.

“I think teams push and push to try and get that early goal,” James van Riemsdyk said. “Once you get to that five-minute point, though, I think everyone starts to settle in for a long night.”

Pick up Tuesday’s Daily News for more, with the yearly trends before and after the lockout and more player reaction.

For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter: @DNFlyers