The only consistent thing about it is that the first unit has been Danny Briere, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne and Kimmo Timonen, with either Scott Hartnell or Mike Knuble as the body out front.

Where they set up has been a moving target. At various times in the first two games, Richards was in his familiar spot on the point opposite Timonen. But at other times it was Briere, and at one point Monday night, both Briere and Richards were up top and Timonen was down on the wing.

"What happens is it depends on what side the faceoff is on," said coach John Stevens. "We have a left- and a righthanded centerman. So if it's on the right side Danny takes the faceoff. If it's on the left side [Richards] takes it and Danny moves back. They just change their position for the sake of the faceoff and run their sets from there."

The scheme is called an "overload umbrella," and the objective is to set up one man in front, one on the side, or the wall, and three in a semicircle up top and generate shots on net from one side.

So it really doesn't matter where they start. They all move and try to create a five-on-three by drawing a defender out of the box and getting a clear, hard shot at the net, then look for rebounds.

So far it has been successful. Both Richards and Gagne scored power-play goals against Montreal Monday night.

Snap shots

Boucher, who came into Flyers camp last season on a tryout, played for the Phantoms and then was traded to San Jose, is currently leading the league in goals against, save percentage and shutouts.

OK, so he's only played one game and it was a shutout, and he's not listed in official league stats because of that. But Boucher fought hard to come back and it's good to see his success.

And look at Marty Biron's numbers so far. His goals against average is 6.32. Again, it's too early for this.

But at some point confidence could become a problem.

"Obviously you start the year 0-2, you don't want his confidence to waver," John Stevens said. "[Biron] was much better in game two. Hopefully that's something he can build on." *