Van Riemsdyk scratched for Game 2
CHICAGO – In order to have Dan Carcillo’s energy back in the lineup for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers will have to go without James van Riemsdyk’s youth.
Van Riemsdyk scratched for Game 2
CHICAGO – In order to have Dan Carcillo’s energy back in the lineup for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers will have to go without James van Riemsdyk’s youth.
Van Riemsdyk will be a healthy scratch for tonight’s game, the Daily News has learned.
Van Riemsdyk, 21, has had a quiet playoff run for the Flyers. He has just two goals and two assists in 18 playoff games and has not scored in the last five games. It took until Game 7 of the second round against the Bruins for van Riemsdyk to net his first career playoff goal.
And his point production wasn’t soaring before the playoffs, either.
In the last 38 games, van Riemsdyk has just three goals. His average ice time in the playoffs is down almost a full minute and he has had some games where he has not broken 10 minutes.
"When you lose, obviously you want to try to shake things up," van Riemsdyk said. "I don't know, the decision is up to him [Laviolette]. In the playoffs, the level goes up every game. It's still a learning experience for me, it's my first time here. It's my first season still, I'm learning everything that goes on our there."
Carcillo, meanwhile, has received unprovoked praise from Flyers coach Peter Laviolette. He has been a healthy scratch the last two games, clearly itching to get into the lineup.
“There was no reason for him to come out of the lineup,” Laviolette said. “He’s done everything we’ve asked. Those decisions are always the tough ones when it comes to telling players they can't be in the lineup or they're not going to get the call that night.”
"I have a lot of pent up energy that you'll probably see released tonight," Carcillo said after the Flyers' morning skate.
With Carcillo in and van Riemsdyk out, Laviolette will be forced to break up the line of van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Arron Asham – which has been one of the Flyers’ best lines these playoffs.
Assuming that Danny Briere’s line (with Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell) will remain untouched, Laviolette can either:
-Move Carcillo in van Riemsdyk’s spot on the wing.
-Move Jeff Carter or Simon Gagne to Giroux’s line and put Carcillo back with Mike Richards on the top line.
Laviolette said on Sunday that these decisions are always the toughest. With just hours to go before Game 2, there are still more to be made. And they won’t get any easier.
Flyers notes
Defenseman Lukas Krajicek said he is fine, ready to play in Game 2. Krajicek said his back "gave out a little bit" when he was boarded by Adam Burish in the second period. More coming...
Blackhawks update
It wasn’t that the Flyers didn’t commit penalties in Game 1, the Blackhawks contend. It’s that they weren’t called.
That refrain continued today as Game 2 approached.
Asked of he’d retire from the game if the Flyers were called for a penalty, ’Hawks coach Joel Quenneville replied, “No. Every game’s different.”
Then he played along: “We expect to be on the power play … this series. Hopefully, it’s tonight.”
It’s not exactly whining, and the sting of the non-calls (the Flyers were 1-for-4) is lessened by both the passage of time and the fact that the Blackhawks won. Besides, they know, the more they complain, the more the officials might look the other way.
“You can’t always look to the ref to give you that,” said left wing Patrick Sharp, who allowed that a little more physicality on his team’s side might spur some sympathy from the men in stripes. “It’d be nice to get a few, but, obviously, we need to do more.”
Hawks notes
Quenneville said that the production of giant left wing Dustin Byfuglien – 2 shots, no points, minus-3 – would be enhanced if linemates Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane looked for him more when he camped in front of the net – and, of course, if the ’Hawks ever get a power play. … Much has been made of the Game 1 jitters the Blackhawks’ young players suffered from. Said defenseman Brent Sopel, and 11-year veteran who, as a younger player, logged five playoff runs with the Canucks: “I myself, was fine. I’ve been around; I know how to channel that. But yeah, there were a lot of nerves around. You saw the mistakes out there. I think tonight will be different.” … Top defenseman Duncan Keith, initially assigned to shut down Mike Richards’ line, found himself pitted against the line that features playoff wunderkind Danny Briere (four points) as Game 1 went on. He said he expected to see most of his action tonight against Richards’ line.
Daily News sports writer Marcus Hayes contributed to this report.
For the latest updates, follow Frank Seravalli on Twitter (http://twitter.com/DNFlyers).
My questions is this, does Carbomb play better defensively than JVR? Does he create more than JVR? Your now breaking up one of the best lines to insert another guy which breaks up potentially another line to get him back in? That might leave G with Carcillo and Asham as wingers, that's no good. Or you move Carter on the wing with G and Asham, I dont like that either.— Fabulous- bad move, shoulda sat powe or parent— chrissays
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaah- Whatever they do, the Briere line and the Richards line should stay the same, and I would put Carcillo on the checking line and let him rough up the hawks as much as possible.— Bleue
Comment removed.- Parent is already sitting for Bartulis— robm0202
- Comment removed.
- My guess is that Carcillo goes back to the Richards line where he was previously and they put Carter on the 3rd line with Giroux and Asham 2nd and 4th lines stay the same this could work well,the thinking being that this creates matchup problems for Bolland's hawks shutdown line ...now they don't have such an easy time dealing with both Carter and Richards on the same line...Carter gets away from Bolland makes the 3rd line stronger and Carcillo gets to make Bolland's life miserable since Bolland is used to doing that to the oppositions top line Of course Sam could post the revised line combos and blow my theory to dust— flyercross
- Not a wise move.— brio
- Comment removed.
- "With Carcillo in and van Riemsdyk out, Laviolette will be forced to break up the line of van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux and Arron Asham – which has been one of the Flyers’ best lines these playoffs." Yeah taking one of the three out makes a lot of sense! Even if he's not recording points, perhaps he's doing something else right?— my3cents
- couldn't agree with you more extremeteam...I mean this is the guy(Parent) that fell on Boucher in the Bruin series all by his clumsy self..he wasn't even pushed into Boucher..then Miroslav Satan decided to fall on top of Parent and we all know what happened to Boucher after that— flyercross
- this is a dumb dumb move ... we need JVR's speed and we need that 3rd line clicking. why not put Carcillo on the 4th line with Betts and Lappy? seriously? this really worries me.— edaptive
- Good, dude is so soft. If he doesn't man-up soon, he will be packaged to some team next year. He is Chris Gratton light. Pathetic. One more lose a few years ago, and they could have Kane. They got stuck JVR.— LGbalsac
- You listen to the Blackhawks and you'd think that they think they are a dynasty. Well, scary thing is, they are good, but really not THAT good.— knebman
