Laviolette moves Briere to Flyers' top line
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Laviolette moves Briere to Flyers' top line
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Hoping to awaken his team's sleepy offense, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette juggled his lines during practice Thursday in Voorhees, moving Danny Briere to the top unit to replace Matt Read.
Briere played left wing on a line with center Claude Giroux and right wing Wayne Simmonds.
Giroux and Briere played together in Germany during the lockout, and they have been occasional linemates in the past with the Flyers.
"We weren't generating as much as we'd like in New York," Laviolette said about Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Rangers. "We switched it up in the third period and put Danny there....and they played well together, so we'll try it and see where it goes."
Laviolette said having Briere and Giroux together was a "nice complement _ one sees the ice really well and one can put the puck in the back of the net very well. A lot of players might enjoy playing with Claude, too, because he does see the ice and he's able to make a lot of plays. When you get someone who's a natural goal scorer like Danny, it coule be a good fit."
The Flyers (2-5) need a spark. They have scored a total of five goals in their five losses.
Here are the new lines for Friday's game in Washington against the strugglin Capitals:
* Giroux centering Briere and Simmonds.
* Sean Couturier centering Read and Mike Knuble.
* Bryaden Schenn centering Tye McGinn and Jake Voracek.
* Max Talbot centering Ruslan Fedotenko and Zac Rinaldo.
The D pairings: Kimmo Timonen-Luke Schenn; Braydon Coburn-Bruno Gervais; Nick Grossmann-Kurtis Foster.
A righthander was on each defensive unit.
Quotable: Laviolette on goalie Ilya Bryzgalov having a poor record despite a superb start: “It’s like a pitcher that goes out on the mound and doesn’t get the run support he needs to win a game.”
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Good god folks...Bruno Gervias is on the 2nd D pairing for a team people that said they had Stanley Cup aspirations...enough said.— jbandit2116- I hate to say it, but when a 40 year old is on your second line, you aren't really that good of a team.— kevin44
- The issue is speciality units suck. Solve them, watch the points fly. The problem is there is little practice time to deal with them. I think we have seen the worst.— CanadianPhilly
- Atleast the fowards are spread out a little bit.. they need to step it up.. LETS GO FLYERS!!!!— trimski1
- Read Couturier Talbot was a good line last year. A lot of speed and hard work. Why put Mike Knuble there? Mike did not look good 5 on 5.
Briere Giroux Simmonds
Read Couturier Talbot
Bring McGinn in for a few games.— Nitroglycerin - Nitro: The reason Talbot is on the 4th line is b/c his play has been putrid, to be generous.
Kevin44: Unless your 40 year old is named Recchi or Selanne. Those guys both had/have great game at 40 from the forward position.
Glad Foster is back in there; Lilja sucks and Foster has not been a liability at all for this team. - Doesn't matter what they do, this team lacks talent. They stink. Can't wait for next season.— masterncommander
- commander, you're just going to say the same thing next year so why bother. And what is going to miraculously change between now and next year? You're negativity can not bring down people who love the game.— The Oneness
- Bring up Jon Sim and the Cup is ours.— schnitzelboy
- Up-front the team is young....right now is just not their time. On the defensive side, aNd whatever happened to Eric Gust. and Brandon Manning? Have they been banished to the Catskill Mountains?— Romus
- Briere to the top line...the definition of the tallest midget. This team stinks and you have nothing better to do if you are following this team. If you are then you are the same dopes who believed the Eagles were playoff contenders...not this year, or next year or the following year— Friend to All
- Friend to all you are wrong with Briere and others on top line midgets in youth hockey midgets are older and bigger,they are more closer to mites for top line. Asked Directv for my money back for hockey they said no dice. Put the Homer behind bench their his problem mites.— t. cap
