Laperriere, Betts bring strong work ethic to penalty kill

RALEIGH, N.C. - The Flyers' penalty kill got much stronger in the offseason with the additions of Ian Laperriere and Blair Betts.

Laperriere earned his penalty-killing stripes in Los Angeles, and brought them with him to Colorado, where he spent the last four seasons. A major reason for Betts' signing on Thursday was his experience on the penalty kill.

"It's part of my job," Laperriere said. "For some guys, it's power play. For me, it's penalty kill. I don't want to get scored on when I'm out there. You need good special teams to be successful in this league."

The Flyers had the second-best penalty kill in the exhibition season, killing off 38 of 42 chances, good for 90.5 percent, up from last season's 83 percent.

Flyers coach John Stevens was quick to temper all of the penalty-kill hype.

"I don't want to get too excited with the penalty kill," Stevens said.

"I don't think a lot of the power play units are what they're going to be during the year. I think there are a lot of people coming out of the lineups, so I think it's tougher to execute on the power play than the penalty kill in the preseason. But I think we did a really good job getting everybody on the same page."

He views starting on the road as an advantage on the ice and in the locker room.

"I think you get rid of a lot of your distractions," Stevens said. "You're together, you get away, you're in the hotel, you're eating the meal together. You get to spend some time together as a team.

"Sometimes I think the onus is on the home team to come out and put a show on."

Last year, the Flyers opened at home and fell out of the gate with a 0-3-3 start. That opening stretch might have cost them the Atlantic Division, as the Flyers finished in third place - only seven points behind the first-place Devils.

The Flyers will get a crack at those Devils tonight. This is only the fourth time in team history, though, that the Flyers have opened a season with back-to-back games.

The last time was in 1994-95, a season shortened after a lockout.

"I usually try to nap, but I've been pretty wired, so that is hard," van Riemsdyk said. "I just want to get out there and get going."

Van Riemsdyk got going pretty quickly. He notched his first NHL point on Mike Richards' goal 47 seconds into the second period and posted three shots on goal.

Four friends from middle and high school trekked to Raleigh to watch van Riemsdyk make his NHL debut, in which he recorded his first assist, on the Flyers' second goal, scored by Richards. This is the same group of friends who followed van Riemsdyk to Ottawa in 2007 to watch him be selected by the Flyers at second overall in the NHL entry draft. They were driving back late last night to catch the Middletown, N.J., native in Newark tonight against the Devils.

Cote, Asham and Bourdon stayed on the ice for extra drills after yesterday's skate before the game. John Stevens wants Cote and Asham to stay ready.

"I love what both Riley and Arron bring," Stevens said. "They are an important part of our hockey team. They will both be used in games when the situation dictates."

Kick saves

Flyers centers worked on faceoffs at the morning skate. Blair Betts dusted the likes of Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux and Mike Richards almost every time in the friendly competition. "It's an area that we want to get better at," John Stevens said. "I think repetition is a great teacher in anything you're doing" . . . Las Vegas has the Flyers with a 14-1 shot to win the Stanley Cup, with Pittsburgh 5-1 to repeat. * Riley Cote, Arron Asham and Marc-Andre Bourdon were the odd men out for last night's game. Bourdon, called up from the Phantoms on Thursday, had not been expected to play. He traveled with the team as the seventh defenseman - or insurance - in case one of the top six was unavailable. Ole-Kristian Tollefsen will be the Flyers' seventh d-man for most of the season if he can stay healthy. Tollefsen, out with a hip injury, is eligible to return from injured reserve tomorrow. Flyers rookie forward James van Riemsdyk said he was so excited for his first NHL game last night that he had a hard time sticking with his pregame ritual of napping.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.