Gagne sets goals for Flyers' French Connection

SINCE THE NHL lockout in 2004-05, it hasn't taken Simon Gagne more than two games to register his first goal in a new season.

The fact that Gagne, who has only four assists in the Flyers' first seven games after scoring 34 goals last year, has not yet netted a goal has coach John Stevens a little worried.

"I think Gags has to do more," Stevens said. "He needs to get to holes and win puck races and be a little more determined. No one needs to tell Gags that. He is his biggest critic. He is hard on himself"

On the surface, though, Gagne plays it cool. He said he isn't worried about his goal-scoring drought, which is reminiscent of 2002, when he only scored once in the Flyers' first 16 games.

"It's not the first time I've gone five or six games without a goal," Gagne said last week in Florida. "I have been through that before. It's a long, long season."

In order to get more pucks bouncing his way, Stevens again changed the lines at practice yesterday. Gagne skated with Claude Giroux and Ian Laperriere to form the Flyers' latest version of the French Connection.

"Maybe a little change of scenery will be good for him," Stevens said. "Everyone has been calling for the French Connection. Everyone has been calling for [Danny] Briere over there. It's three French-Canadian players but they all bring something different to the line."

It is the third line Gagne has skated with this week but he doesn't mind the switching.

"It's fun to see a little French Connection going on," Gagne said. "I played with Claude a little bit last year. He is definitely a guy that likes to make plays and likes to make the pass sometimes before shooting the puck.

"If you bring a guy of the caliber of Laperriere with us, he is a guy that is going to go to the net. He will create some traffic in front of the net so me and Claude can make the plays we like to. I like the mix right now."

They like to joke around in the locker room - or maybe make fun of reporters - in French, but Gagne said they don't speak much French on the ice.

"I don't think we're going to speak that much French," he said. "When you're a kid, you speak French. All of the words you use on the ice are usually English. We're going to have two defensemen with us, so you have to make sure they understand your language when we play."

Unfortunately for them, none of the Flyers' defensemen is fluent in French.

"It should be called cheating," Laperriere joked. "We're using a different language, the other team can't understand us.

"They'll recognize our accent for sure."

Brian Boucher will make his first start for the Flyers since the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs tomorrow at the Wachovia Center. The Flyers' backup goalie, who struggled in the preseason and spent some time on the IR with a groin strain, will make his season debut against one of his former clubs, the San Jose Sharks.

"I'm just happy to get a game in," Boucher said. "Since it's against a former team, of course I want to win just like I want to win any game."

With Ray Emery eating all of the minutes in the early going, Boucher played one game for the Phantoms last weekend on a conditioning assignment. He stopped 29-of-31 shots and helped Adirondack to a win over Bridgeport after going 0-2-1 with a 4.52 GAA in the Flyers' preseason.

"I think it made perfect sense," Boucher said. "It was nice to have played a week ago."

Defenseman Ryan Parent skated on his own before practice yesterday. He is hampered by a strained groin, which the Flyers are still calling a "lower body" injury. He will skate this morning but is doubtful to play this weekend . . . Blair Betts, out with a dislocated right shoulder since Oct. 6, said he is ahead of schedule but his shoulder is not strong enough yet for contact or face-offs. He will probably be out until next Saturday against Carolina . . . The Florida Panthers are making the Keystone State swing in their schedule. They played across the Commonwealth last night, in Pittsburgh . . . There are approximately 1,530 tickets available for tonight's game with the Panthers. *

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.