Jason Akeson looking to provide energy for Flyers

PITTSBURGH - In all the years Jason Akeson has played hockey, he has never been asked to do what Craig Berube is asking of him now with the Flyers.

Akeson, 24, is a scorer. He's accustomed to being in the thick of the action, using his speed and his hands to create scoring chances.

He led the Phantoms in scoring for each of the last three seasons. He scored on his second NHL shift. He had more points in junior hockey in 2010-11 than all but three players in Canada - more than Ryan Johansen, Jonathan Huberdeau and Brendan Gallagher.

Now, after breaking camp with a full-time NHL job for the first time in his career, Akeson is being asked to provide energy in a fourth-line role with the Flyers.

He apparently didn't provide enough pop in his first four games of the season. Akeson was given a second chance last night in Pittsburgh, reinserted into the lineup after sitting out the previous two games as a healthy scratch.

"He's a skilled guy, but where he's positioned right now, he needs to play a simple game," Berube said. "Sometimes, when you don't and you turn pucks over, you can't afford to do that where he's at in the lineup.

"He's used to being a scorer. He can still do that, but he really has to pick and choose his spots."

With Vinny Lecavalier out, Berube could have moved Brayden Schenn to center the second line and slid Akeson up to play on the wing on a skilled line. He chose instead to keep Schenn slotted on the left wing, opposite of Wayne Simmonds, and plucked previous fourth-line center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

Akeson was left on the fourth line, where he's averaged under 9 minutes per night. He took the place of Blair Jones last night.

"It's obviously a big change for me," Akeson said. "It's not an easy game when you're sitting on the bench for long periods of time and then trying to play 110 [mph]. It's very tough. At the end of the day, it is what it is. I've got to do what I need to do to stay here. If that means getting 8 minutes a game and chipping the puck in, that's what I'm going to do. There's not many ways around it."

Game in Pittsburgh, hearts in Canada

It was a hockey night in Pittsburgh, but for a few minutes at least, the focus was far from last night's latest chapter in the NHL's best rivalry.

Despite no Canadian team being represented on the ice, the Penguins and Flyers stood in unison with all of Canada in light of yesterday's multiple gunshots on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Penguins anthem singer Jeff Jimerson belted out "O, Canada" with the help of all 18,387 singing along at Consol Energy Center in a hair-raising nod of support.

The Canadian anthem is regularly performed before any NHL game involving a team from Canada - or in Buffalo, which straddles the Canadian border. It meant a great deal more to an entire nation watching their pastime in a nationally televised broadcast and also the 25 Canadian-born players on the ice.

News of the shootings, which claimed the life of Canadian Forces Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, rocked Canada yesterday. Many office buildings and schools in Canada's capital city were placed on lockdown, including the hotel housing the Toronto Maple Leafs, just blocks away from where the violence took place.

Last night's game between the Maple Leafs and Senators was postponed by the NHL.

The news hit particularly close to home for Flyers captain Claude Giroux, who spends his summers in Ottawa. He was at breakfast yesterday in Pittsburgh with teammates when he was alerted by his sister, Isabelle, who lives and works in Ottawa.

"The first thing I did was called home and talked to family to see if everything's OK," Giroux said. "You don't see that kind of stuff often in Ottawa.

"You follow it on TV and you try to understand, but it's tough to understand because you're not there. [Mass shootings] don't happen as often in Canada, so when it does, it kind of shocks you a little bit. It's not fun to see."

Giroux was in the Flyers' starting lineup last night and on the blue line for the national anthem. He tapped his stick on the ice when it was over, as a way of saying thank you for the support in the emotional moment.

Anaheim also held a moment of silence for yesterday's events in Canada before hosting the Buffalo Sabres.

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