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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Fists fly as Flyers trounce 'Canes

   The Flyers received an unexpected boost from rookie right winger David Laliberte and defenseman Braydon Coburn Saturday as they trounced Carolina, 6-1, in a fight-filled game at the Wachovia Center.

      Laliberte, making his NHL debut and subbing for the injured Danny Briere, scored a goal and collected an assist, while Coburn had a career-high two goals. Scott Hartnell and Matt Carle each had a goal and two assists, and rookie James van Riemsdyk added a goal and an assist.

     Carle and van Riemsdyk are making strong bids to earn spots on the U.S. Olympic team.

     "Both are under consideration," said Brian Burke, the Team USA general manager.

      Three Flyers were inolved in fights _ Ian Laperriere (loss), Arron Asham (win) and Dan Carcillo (draw) _ and Jeff Carter raced to van Riemsdyk's side after he was was driven into the boards by former Flyer Andrew Alberts.

      Coburn, who had been mired in a deep slump that caused him to be moved to the third defensive pairing Saturday, liked the way the team was united in the mismatch.

     "I think that’s the Flyers," he said. "We’ve got guys that aren’t going to back down to anybody. We’ve got a tight-knight group in here. I think we had guys tonight that are tough guys and that stand up for guys. We’ve got Ash [Asham] and Carcillo and Lappy [Laperriere] and having [David] Laliberte come in fresh off a call-up and really contributing....And the kid, van Riemsdyk, he played phenomenal. He played like a veteran out there."

   Ray Emery made 39 saves for the Flyers, who play host to Tampa Bay Monday at 5 p.m.

   Blair Betts won 13 of 18 faceoffs (72 percent) in his first game back since he suffered a dislocated right shoulder. The Flyers, who won 64 percent of the facoffs Saturday,  are 4-0 with Betts in the lineup and 2-4-1 without him.

    Chants of "Let's Go Phillies!" and "Yankees Suck!" filled the Wachovia Center at different points of Saturday afternoon's game.

   Notes. Chris Pronger had five blocks and three takeaways....Jeff Carter has not scored a goal in seven straight games....The Flyers said they needed another day before deciding the route Simon Gagne will take to repair his two hernias.

     

Posted by Sam Carchidi @ 5:28 PM  Permalink | 4 comments
4
Comments   
Posted 11:12 PM, 10/31/2009
88etrain
Carter DID NOT "(race) to van Riemsdyk's side after he was was driven into the boards by former Flyer Andrew Alberts." I was at the game, and Carter watched JVR get boarded and skated away! JVR got in Alberts' face on the way back up ice. Only then, with officials nearby, did Carter "step in" with a single joust. Very disappointing lack of response from a supposed leader of this team. I guess he had a date tonight.
Posted 12:55 AM, 11/01/2009
Living_Legend
If he raced over to Alberts he should have dropped his freakin gloves, Carter has fought ewarlier in his career..He just wears a skirt now and that was a disgrace. The kid obviously doesn't play that type of game, no different than Gagne or Danny Boy taken one to the back. Alberts is a ratard who laughed in Carters face...Buck up son...
Posted 12:57 AM, 11/01/2009
Living_Legend
Carcillo wasn't a draw either, are you blind. When you don't get hit and you hit the other guy hows it a draw in your world Sam.
Posted 12:39 PM, 11/01/2009
munkygoalie1
If jvr is as important to the teams future as you've written then the ENTIRE team should've come to his rescue- from Richards to Pronger to Cote...etc even if it meant leaving the bench. This is not a team yet.
About Sam Carchidi
Sam Carchidi, who has covered primarily South Jersey high school sports and the Phillies for three decades, is in his second year as the Flyers’ beat writer. He has followed the Flyers since their inception in 1967-68, and remembers when only the third periods of their games were broadcast on the radio - just seven years before they became the city's most popular franchise.

Carchidi has written three books _ the nationally acclaimed Miracle in the Making: The Adam Taliaferro Story, which he co-authored with Scott Brown; Bill Campbell: The Voice of Philadelphia Sports; and Standing Tall: The Kevin Everett Story, which was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

A lifelong South Jersey resident, Carchidi lives in Wenonah, N.J., with his wife, JoAnn, and he is a passionate sports fan of the colleges attended by his daughter, Sara (tiny Mount St. Mary’s in Maryland, which qualified for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last season and is unbeaten in football since 1951) and his son, Sammy (West Virginia, an annual challenger for the nation’s No. 1 ranking in football and men’s basketball).
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