Briere, Grossmann practice; Bryz not afraid of Pens
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Briere, Grossmann practice; Bryz not afraid of Pens
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Center Danny Briere and defenseman Nick Grossmann, each of whom missed the last last three games after being injured on hits by Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale, returned to the Flyers' practice Monday in Voorhees.
That seems to be a sign they will play in Game 1 of the Pennsylvania Cold War Series, starting Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
These were the Flyers' lines at practice:
* Giroux centering Hartnell and Jagr.
* Briere centering Schenn and Voracek.
* Read centering Wellwood and Simmonds.
* Couturier centering Talbot and Rinaldo.
The D pairings:
* Grossmann-Coburn.
* Carle-Timonen.
* Bourdon-Lilja.
The extra pair had Pavel Kubina with.....Jody Shelley!
Rinaldo finishes No. 2. Columbus' Derek Dorsett picked up 12 penalty minutes in the last game to pass the Flyers' Zac Rinaldo and finish as the league's penalty king.
Dorsett finished with 235 minutes _ three more than Rinaldo.
Dorsett played in 77 games; Rinaldo played in 66.
The Flyers had three players in the top 25 in penalty minutes: Rinaldo, Scott Hartnell (136 minutes, 11th) and Wayne Simmonds (114 minutes, tied for No. 24).
James Neal led Pittsburgh with 87 penalty minutes.
Pens injury update. Two key Penguins _ James Neal (40 goals) and Steve Sullivan (17) _ returned to the team's practice Monday after being sidelined with late-season injuries.
Pittsburgh defenseman Matt Niskanen did not practice, and rookie Brian Strait is expected to replace him in the lineup on the third pairing.
Quotable. Ilya Bryzgalov when asked about the Penguins' biggest threat:
"I'm not afraid of anything. I'm afraid of bear. Bear in the forest."
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter at BroadStBull.
For NoCup1975, why would anyone fear the Penguins? The Flyers absolutely owned the Penguins all season and that's a fact. And if the Penguins management didn't suck so bad, the Penguins never would have had so many top picks. YOU HAVE TO SUCK to get high draft picks. Sorry the Flyers are alwasy competative and don't suck enough to grab the top picks year in and year out. The Penguins are the reason there's a lottery now. The Penguins have no shot at this series as you saw, they are owned by the Flyers.— franpn- I can't wait till the rule is implented where if you get the #1 pick in the draft, you can not have a top 5 pick for the next 10 years. If that was the case with the Penguins, they'd still be the league's doormat. How the hell can you call yourself a good organization when you finished in the bottom all those years.— franpn
- You guys are all so boring.... both sides...taunting each other day after day after day... I read for enjoyment. It will all take care of itself tomorrow.. If flyers are physical and annoy malkin and crosby and hit hard without taking penalties.. Flyers are much nastier esp in front of bryz.. They won many games coming from behind.. I watched almost every game this season . maybe missing a game here or there.. When flyers play to penguins pace they allow scoring chances and thats why they were down 2 or 3 nothing. and lav calls timeout and they come out hitting and fore checking without taking penalties they beat everyone.. everyone but rangers .. but all the games against rangers the flyers were dominated by lundquist and were down 3 to 0 or 4 to 0 .. I forget.. but they started fore checking rangers and hitting them but they were w/o grossman and briere and mazar.. last game against pens flyers were taking it easy.. pens got all excited with win and malkin scores 50 that game was a joke.. no giroux no bryz and fore mentioned.. flyers clearly aren't afraid of pens.. and to think there macyntre scared are guys is ridiculous little renaldo would fight him in a second.. Simmonds didn't fight well but who wants to fight when you took a puck in the nose and start fighting— patjr
- I think it will be a fantastic series.. I can't f'in wait.. I want the flyers not only to beat pens.. I want them to smash them and wash the faces with the gloves.. But I'm not playing.. wish I could cause it would be fun to beat someone while playing a sport.. Don't think penguins are lightweights.... They are gonna come storming out. They won a cup few years back and thats hard to do..look at how many different teams have won lately.. does one see a team win year after year. not since 96-97..97-98 redwings thats— patjr
- Dude you are a wuss, let's just get rid of message boards all togehter how does that sound? Just grow a pair and watch tv. — franpn
- "gee, i have nothing better to do (other than my mom). Guess I'll check out the philly website and make stupid comments that i could never actually back up"..NoBalls1975
— Paul1215
