Flyers' Briere sidelined with another groin injury

THE FLYERS are dropping like flies.

First it was Simon Gagne, who found out while taking an ultrasound on Monday that he has two small hernias in his groin area.

Yesterday, it was Danny Briere's turn.

Briere has not skated in practice since Tuesday's game in Washington. He has been diagnosed with a slight right groin strain. Briere said he tweaked it in the first period against the Capitals but managed to play through the final two periods.

"It's a tough break for Danny," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. "He was playing well. We thought we'd give him 1 day off and it would get better, and it's kind of gone from there."

Briere attempted to skate in yesterday's practice at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, but was forced to sit out due to discomfort. Holmgren said Briere is "highly unlikely" to play this afternoon against Carolina.

Officially, Briere is day-to-day. But no one knows if his latest injury is a flare-up of the groin and abdominal problems that kept him sidelined for 53 games last year.

With Gagne and Briere out, the Flyers called up forward David Laliberte from Adirondack. Laliberte only has one goal in eight AHL games but was one of the few healthy players on a Phantoms team that is ravaged by the flu.

The Flyers will also be aided today by the return of Blair Betts, who has been out of the lineup since Oct. 6 with a dislocated right shoulder.

Gagne received a conflicting report from his visit to Dr. Rey Brown at Montreal General Hospital on Thursday. Brown's opinion was different than Flyers' orthopedic surgeon Dr. Peter DeLuca, although Holmgren didn't give specifics about how the reports clashed.

"The doctors are still evaluating all of the tests Simon Gagne has gone through over the past few days," Holmgren said. "We plan to talk [this] morning to discuss the best way to handle Simon's injury."

It was originally thought that Gagne would require surgery to repair the two tears. But Holmgren hinted at the possibility of Gagne playing through it by way of cortisone shots and/or injections to keep him pain-free.

"These are just different things we've tried over the years with different players," Holmgren said. "I really don't know the answer."

As expected, coach John Stevens broke up the defensive pair of Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen; the two were a combined minus-19.

"It's been really hard and frustrating," Timonen said on Tuesday in Washington. "Every time bad breaks happen, I'm on the ice."

Timonen skated with Ryan Parent yesterday, who, like Betts, is scheduled to return today against the Hurricanes. Parent strained his groin on Oct. 16 in Florida.

Coburn was paired with Danny Syvret in practice, a speedy puck-moving defenseman that has a style somewhat comparable to Timonen.

The pair of Matt Carle and Chris Pronger stayed together. That means Ole-Kristian Tollefsen could be the odd man out, but Stevens said he had not made up his mind.

Scott Hartnell presented P.A.W.S. (Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society) with a $1,500 check yesterday on behalf of the Flyers Fan Club . . . Approximately 1,300 tickets are available for today's game, some of which can be purchased for $25 with a World Series ticket stub.

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