Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov refused to talk to reporters during the team's postseason media day Thursday, but he candidly told a Russian newspaper he was fed up with the scrutiny he was under during his first year with the club.

"What I lived through this season I wouldn't wish to an enemy," he said to reporter Natalia Bragilevskaya of SovSport. ". . . I need to keep working. I understand the fans. They paid their money and want the show. But many forget that we are not robots, but living people. We have feelings, worries."

The comments were translated and posted on Puck Daddy at Yahoo.

Bryzgalov had an up-and-down first season with the Flyers, and he allowed a brutal goal - it proved to be the game-winner - as the Flyers were eliminated by New Jersey, 3-1, in Game 5 of the conference semifinals Tuesday.

"I got very tired this season, to be honest," he said. ". . . Now I know what it's like to be a goaltender in Philadelphia. Maybe from the outside it looks like there's nothing to it. You only realize it on your own."

On the whole, Bryzgalov played well in the New Jersey series.

"It's easy to turn away when the club is going through tough times," he said. "But if you're wearing orange sweaters, then support Philadelphia until the very end! Don't denounce your team. There won't be a different one. And I know that the Flyers have dedicated fans who understand hockey and will always support."

Bryzgalov said he gained "invaluable experience" this season that was "difficult to describe with words. It is a psychology, a new view on life."

Asked about the scrutiny he was under in Philadelphia, Bryzgalov said, "It is difficult" and that "my face is everywhere. Everyone is talking about me. 'Bryzgalov played well,' 'Philadelphia won, but Bryz made a mistake again,' 'Yes, he wasn't scored against but could have been'. . .  Guys, but who doesn't make mistakes? And how many [pucks] did I catch before then? But very few notice that. People are so concentrated on the negative that they only see the bad in me. But I think you need to be kinder to each other."

Bryzgalov, who has eight years left on a $51 million deal, said he has never considered asking to be traded.

"I will not give in when facing difficulties," he said. "I have eight more years to work under my contract with Philadelphia. If I am criticized, then I will endure it. You can't tie up people's tongues. It is their right to let the emotions go."

Oddly, Bryzgalov said he wanted to make sure the fans knew he wasn't being critical of them.

   The Flyers cleared out their lockers in Voorhees on Thursday, and there were many newsy items that were learned.

    Here are some of them:

   ** Jaromir Jagr was given several chances to say he wanted to return to the Flyers. He did not bite. It appears he will test the FA market.

   ** GM Paul Holmgren expects to re-sign defenseman Matt Carle, a potential free agent, at a below-market price.

   ** Ilya Bryzgalov, with a year of playing in Philly behind him, will be a much better goalie next season, Holmgren said.   In a good-natured tone, Holmgren said Bryzgalov’s duties weren’t performing for “Comedy Central” but stopping the puck.

   ** Holmgren said Chris Pronger is "the same," meaning he still has concussion symptoms. The GM added he was a "glass half-full" guy and still believed Pronger would play next season. Out of respect to Pronger, he will not even think about naming a new captain (Claude Giroux appears to be the leading candidate) at this point.

   ** Holmgren said he would have injury updates later tonight. Speculation is that Kimmo Timonen, Nick Grossmann and JVR will need surgery.

  ** By the GM's estimate, the cap will rise from $64.3 million to around $69 million.

  ** Holmgren said he hopes Mike Richards and Jeff Carter win the Cup with the Kings, but that he was happy with the deals and would "do them again."

  ** Timonen, 37, will return next year, and perhaps beyond next season, Holmgren said.

   ** Coach Peter Laviolette said center Sean Couturier, coming off an impressive rookie year, could get more playing time next season and work his way onto a power-play unit.

      Now that their season is over, where do the Flyers go from here?

      Well, one of the first things on general manager Paul Holmgren’s agenda is trying to resign defenseman Matt Carle ($3.4 million cap hit this year) and right winger Jaromir Jagr ($3.3 million), a pair of potential unrestricted free agents. The Flyers would like to sign both players, a source said.

       The Flyers have $61.2 million committed to next year. If Chris Pronger is on the long-term injured reserve list again next season, the Flyers will get $4.9 million of cap relief.

       That would mean they would have about $56.2 million committed to 2012-13 salaries. The current cap is $64.3 million, but it is expected to rise to around $69 million.

       So the Flyers would have about $13 million of cap room, and that number will drop when they sign restricted free agents Jakub Voracek and Marc-Andre Bourdon.

       They could free more room by dealing winger James van Riemsdyk ($4.25 million), and, remember, Nashville defenseman Ryan Suter, a potential UFA who figures to get a big raise from his $3.5 million salary, is on the Flyers’ radar.

      The 40-year-old Jagr, who scored just one goal in 11 playoff games _ none against the Devils _  said he didn’t know what would happen in the off-season.

    “I have to say, thanks for the support from the fans,” he said. “I love everyone on this team. That was probably the most enjoyable year I’ve ever had. I’ve won some Cups, I’ve won some trophies, but I loved this year. From the organization to the last player on the team, and the fans, they were so nice to me.

   “I hate to finish it right now; that’s the worst feeling. You finish the whole story, the whole year, that’s a sad day today for me…I wanna cry right now.”

     Breakaways. Claude Giroux said overconfidence played a role in the series loss the Devils. “I think we thought we were going to walk over New Jersey,” he said…..In the last two games, the Flyers had a total of 34 giveaways while the Devils had 11…..It marked just the 11^th time (out of 96 playoff series) that the Flyers had lost four straight in the post-season.

    Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.

The Flyers' season ended in disappointing fasion with a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils at the Wells Fargo Center in Game 5 of their playoff series. Watch reflections from Flyers players, and get analysis from The Inquirer's Sam Carchidi.

With his team facing elimination, it appears defenseman Andrej Meszaros will return to the Flyers' lineup Tuesday night against visiting New Jersey.

Meszaros hasn't played since March 1. He had back surgery on March 21.

The Flyers will be without the suspended star Claude Giroux, who leads the NHL with 17 playoff points.

"G's been our best player all year. We owe him one," winger Zac Rinaldo said. "This one is for him."

With Giroux out of the lineup, Rinaldo is expected to make his series debut.

Giroux said he was surprised by the one-game suspension, "but it is what it is," he said.

* * *

After practice, defenseman Kimmo Timonen wore a shirt that said, "Play Angry."

Said coach Peter Laviolette: "I don't think we're going to hang Kimmo's shirt behind the bench and rally behind that."

But they will try to rally around Giroux's absence.

Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.

   While walking through the Deptford Mall on Monday, a strange announcement was heard over the public-address system:

   Attention, shoppers. We have a lost group of 20 bearded young men and they say they don’t know how they got here.
    The boys call themselves “Flyers,” and they seem confused and somewhat religious. They keep talking about their need to exorcise Devils and how they don't want to go golfing so early.
    Again, they seem confused. Almost dazed, really.
    They say they don’t remember much about the last three games, but they believe they won the conference championship against the Penguins a couple weeks ago. And they continually mutter things about being outworked and lacking emotion and needing someone to show them the way.
    If you think you know the identity of any of these polite young men — one said he would have made a great astronaut if he hadn't discovered hockey – please contact our main office. Thank you.

                                                    * * * * *  

    The Flyers did not practice on Monday. They had a meeting at their Voorhees practice facility and were given the day off and free time to walk around a mall, spend time with their families, go to a restaurant, or whatever.

     Oh, and time to reflect on why they are on the brink of elimination, facing a three-games-to-one deficit in the Eastern Conference semifinals with the surging New Jersey Devils.

    After their team meeting, coach Peter Laviolette, Kimmo Timonen, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux talked about the Flyers’ plight. All said the same things they mentioned after Games 2, 3 and 4: The Flyers are not getting out of their zone effectively, are getting beat to loose pucks, and are not playing like they have throughout the season.

    They are getting outskated and losing too many battles. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

    But Giroux, who later in the afternoon received a one-game suspension for Sunday’s hit on Dainius Zubrus’ head, added a new twist, twice saying the team has been “panicking” in the series and that it needs to “calm down.”

   “At the end of the day, we’re panicking a little bit. We need to relax and have a little bit more confidence in our game,” said Giroux, who will not play in Game 5 Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center.

   Well, to quote Woody, the hockey aficionado from Toy Story: “This is the PERFECT time to panic!"

    Controlled panic, that is. In other words, playing with an off-the-charts desperation level on every shift.

   The Flyers have not shown much of it against the Devils. They have played this series like it was the regular season, and not with the high intensity that marked their first-round win over the Penguins.

    High intensity? How can a team, in a virtual must-win situation, go 16:23 without a shot in their 4-2 loss in Game 4? Or not get a shot in the first 18:33 of the second period of Game 2?

  Shots are created by puck possession, and that facet of the game has been dominated by New Jersey.

    “The turnovers and our composure with the puck the last few games hasn't been where it needs to be or where it should be on a team like ours,” Briere said. “We've seen all year that we know we can make plays. Where now, sometimes you start going down that slope and it’s tough to recover and it seems it's been getting worse and worse for us.

   “Hopefully, today was a chance to take a step back and maybe play with a little more urgency.”

   "I have a tremendous amount of confidence that we can win a game (Tuesday), and I say that not as a sales pitch,” coach Peter Laviolette said.

     Briere said the Flyers “have faced adversity all year and shown we can come back from it.”

    Timonen said the Flyers aren’t taking care of “little details” in their game.

    “It’s time to go back to basics,” he said.

    At Monday’s team meeting, there were questions, lots of questions, about how the Flyers can regroup.

    “But after the meeting, I sensed guys were upbeat,” Briere said. “We’ve been in tough positions before. I have the sense guys were starting to get alive and starting to believe they can do this.”

     At this point, the words are hollow, and need to be backed up on the ice.

     If they’re not, you might see some clean-shaven hockey players walking around a mall near you.

    Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.

For the last three games, the Flyers have had no sustained forecheck, no emotion, no answers in their Eastern Conference semifinals against the surging New Jersey Devils.

And, now, as they try to stave off elimination in Game 5 on Tuesday, they have no Claude Giroux, the star center who leads the NHL with 17 points in this year’s playoffs.

Does that mean they have no chance?

Well, no.

In a twisted way, not having their superstar center – suspended by the NHL on Monday for a head hit on the Devils’ Dainius Zubrus on Sunday – may unify the Flyers and give them a rallying cry.

That’s their hope, anyway.

And, hey, if you’ve watched how the Devils have embarrassed the Flyers over the last three games, all with Giroux in the lineup, you know the Orange and Black need something, anything, to wake them out of their malaise.

You don’t have to look too far to find teams that rallied without star players in this year’s playoffs.

Pittsburgh did it in Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals against the Flyers, missing three suspended players – including winger James Neal, a 40-goal scorer this season – and registering a 10-3 victory.

New Jersey did it in Game 2 against the Flyers as standout winger Ilya Kovalchuk was sidelined with a back injury.  Final: Devils 4, Flyers 1.

Giroux will obviously be missed. He plays in all situations, and plays harder than anyone on the team.

The Flyers will need everyone to raise their level to make up for his absence, and it will be intriguing to see how they react. They responded all season without their official captain, the injured Chris Pronger. Now they will try to do it without their unofficial captain.

The suspension seemed to surprise the Flyers. After all, there have been worse hits (see Nashville’s Shea Weber and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin in two different incidents) in this year’s playoffs that did not draw suspensions. And the Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin didn’t even have a hearing after two questionable hits against the Flyers in Round 1.

For the most part, it seemed like stars were being spared. Or given light punishment. Take Neal, a repeat offender, getting just a one-game suspension after making a run at Giroux and LEAVING HIS FEET to hit Sean Couturier’s head on the same shift.

Based on those incidents, it’s easy to understand why many thought Giroux would be fined, but not suspended. He had no past history, and he didn’t leave his feet to hit Zubrus.

“It’s no fun; it’s not what we were looking for,” center Danny Briere said of Giroux’s suspension. “Obviously when your best player is going to miss a crucial game, it (hurts). But you know what, it’s our season (Tuesday) and there’s no time to sit back and complain. If we did, it would be wasted energy. It is what it is and we can’t change anything. At the end of the day, we have to move forward and have to find a way to win.”

Giroux said it was not his intention to hit Zubrus in the head.

“That’s not the kind of player I am,” he said.

That kind of explanation helped Neal in his hearing with Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s discipline czar.

It didn’t help Giroux.

Without the shifty center, the Flyers figure to insert winger Zac Rinaldo into the lineup. Rinaldo gives the team energy, not scoring. The scoring will have to come from players who have been mostly non-factors in this series. Guys like Wayne Simmonds and Jaromir Jagr, among others.

Giroux’s absence will give others more minutes, and there’s a chance Andrej Meszaros returns and bolsters a sagging defense. Will they flourish or will the Flyers _ who were 3-2-1 against the Devils in the regular season and had one more point than New Jersey _ continue their freefall and be able to get tee times on Wednesday?

“Somehow, we have to make it work,” said Briere about another night of revamped lines. “Everybody has to dig deep. It’s one game. It’s not like it’s the rest of the playoffs without Claude.”

Well, it is if the Flyers suffer their fourth straight defeat.

“We have to find a way to win,” Briere said, “and go from there.”

Contact Sam Carchidi at scarchidi@phillynews.com, or on Twitter @BroadStBull.

NEWARK, N.J. — The biggest indictment on the Flyers' embarrassing 4-2 loss in New Jersey Sunday night wasn't that they blew a 2-0 lead, wasn't that they had 15 more giveaways than the Devils, wasn't that they were outscored, 2-0, in even-strength situations.

It was this: the Flyers went 16 minutes, 23 seconds without recording a shot during a span that stretched over the first and second periods.

Go almost 16½ minutes without a sniff of a shot in a regular-season game would be bad enough. But to do it in a virtual must-win playoff game, well, it's simply mind-boggling.

“We're playing soft hockey,” winger Scott Hartnell said. “We're playing almost scared to take a hit or make a play.”

For a team that showed remarkable determination during the regular season and first round of the playoffs, the Flyers' play Sunday was totally out of character.

They showed no heart as they were outshot, 43-22, and continued to be pinned in their own zone.

On a night when Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov badly outplayed the Devils’ Marty Brodeur, the Flyers went down quietly.

They are making the Devils — who barely got past mediocre Florida in Round 1 — look like the 1976 Montreal Canadiens.

And the explanations are sounding hollow.

After the game, after falling behind in the series, three games to one, they talked about being outworked and not showing enough emotion.

Which is what they said after Game 3, then did nothing to change it.

“I don't know if it's panic or too much pressure or what is going on,” center Danny Briere said. “We somehow have to find a way to make better plays, to make crisp passes to get out of our zone. We're making things way too difficult on ourselves.”

“We're getting pushed off pucks way too easy and that leads us to more D-zone time,” Hartnell said. “We've got tired D out there, and that's why (the Devils) are looking like they're dominating us. We're making soft, stupid plays.”

Like his teammates, center Claude Giroux is baffled.

“They’re winning battles and it looks like they want it more than us,” Giroux said. “It's frustrating because the whole season we've been out-working every team and now it's the other way around.”

The Flyers’ shoddy effort made a loser out of Bryzgalov, who played superbly.

“We're letting Bryz play by himself. If it wasn't for him, we would have gotten killed,” Giroux said. “I don't know what to tell you. It's frustrating to see. Including myself, we're not winning battles. We're always playing in our zone. We need to find a way to play better.”

The onus is now on coach Peter Laviolette to find a solution.

Quickly.

Breakaways. Perhaps still bothered by a leg injury, Sean Couturier played just 7:08, and one wonders if Zac Rinaldo will make his series debut Tuesday......Don't be surprised if Andrej Meszaros, who had back surgery on March 21, returns Tuesday and Andreas Lilja is scratched.....The Flyers attempted 33 shots (22 on net), while the Devils had 64 attempts (43 on net).....Only 21 teams in 241 tries have overcome a three-games-to-one deficit and won a series.....Hartnell had six shots, four hits and a goal but was minus-2.....The Flyers won 63 percent of the faceoffs.

Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.

Update: Sean Couturier has made a quick recovery from a leg injury and is expected to play in New Jersey on Sunday night.

The rookie center took part in the morning skate. Officially, the Flyers say he will be a game-time decision.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros has been ruled out for tonight.

Rinaldo says he won't 'cross the line'

If Zac Rinaldo replaces the injured Sean Couturier in the Flyers' lineup Sunday night, it will be his first appearance since Game 4 against Pittsburgh.

“If I’m in there, I’m going to play within the rules and not cross any lines and just play hockey,” Rinaldo said.

Rinaldo, who finished second in the NHL in penalty minutes this season, said the Flyers will “have more fight” because they are in a 2-1 series hole.

PP Blues

 The Flyers’ power-play ineffectiveness has played a huge role in the series.

In the first round, the Flyers were 12 for 23 (52.2 percent) on the power play against Pittsburgh; they are 2 for 16 (12.5 percent) in this series.

“We have to adjust and be better,” Brayden Schenn said.

In two overtime power plays Thursday, the Flyers had a total of one shot.

“Obviously we did really well against the Penguins. The Devils saw that and they studied it and they're killing well,” Max Talbot said. “They’re blocking shots and they’re sacrificing their body. They have a good PK, and we have to find a way to score.”

Telltale Stat?

The Flyers did not have a three-game losing streak (excluding shootouts) all season. They have lost the last two.

Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.