Lineup changes; Homecoming
Peter Laviolette made a few more lineup changes this morning, plus Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen return to Nashville for the first time since being traded to the Flyers in 2007.
NASHVILLE – After getting burnt at Madison Square Garden on Sunday with his lineup against the Rangers, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said he will re-insert forward Darroll Powe back into the lineup for tonight's game against the Predators.
That means Riley Cote will be back in street clothes for the 34th time in 35 games.
Arron Asham will remain in the lineup, leaving skilled forward Ville Leino – who has contributed to the top lines in his handful of games with the Flyers – will be out as a healthy scratch again.
Here are the expected lines for tonight's matchup:
Hartnell – Carter – Briere
Gagne – Richards – Carcillo
Asham – Giroux – Van Riemsdyk
Powe – Betts - Laperriere
Laviolette said the defensive pairings will remain the same as this weekend. Michael Leighton is back in goal for his 15th straight start.
Scott Hartnell was all smiles at this morning's skate at the Bridgestone Arena. He was greeted by Nashville coach Barry Trotz and a host of team employees. Hartnell skated in Nashville for 6 full seasons before being traded to the Flyers as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2007.
Hartnell came with former Nashville defenseman Kimmo Timonen in that deal for a 1st round pick.
This is both Timonen and Hartnell's first game back in Nashville since then. Both players led Nashville to their best season in franchise history (51 wins, 110 points) in 2006-07.
"Being here at the rink this morning, there were just a lot of great memories and a lot of big wins," Hartnell said. "It was a lot of fun. Just being on the ice, and see some of the other guys on the other team [at their skate] was a little weird. Hopefully we can have a big win and have some fun here."
Hartnell broke out of his 13-game goal scoring slump last Saturday against Chicago and was one of the Flyers' more up-tempo players in a brutal loss Sunday in New York.
Predators fans were excited to see Hartnell, too, hanging outside of the arena waiting for an autograph on a life-size cutout (picture: http://twitpic.com/18yvj3).
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