Flyers lineup vs. Rangers was all bluster, no bite

NEW YORK - Rangers coach John Tortorella was surprised, not scared, when he first glanced at the NHL's lineup card handed to him before the game.

He looked down to see the Flyers' Ville Leino and Darroll Powe crossed off.

In their place were two players who didn't factor into Saturday's thrilling, 3-2 win over Chicago at the Wachovia Center. Riley Cote and Arron Asham didn't even dress for that game.

Tortorella's eyes likely jumped off the page.

When asked after the game about Cote's minimal impact on the game, Tortorella was his usual forthright-self. Cote was a healthy scratch for 33 consecutive games before yesterday's matinee at Madison Square Garden, won by the Rangers, 3-1.

"I wish he played more," Tortorella said. "It's a nonfactor. He's a nonfactor. The Cotes - no disrespect to him - but we're trying to win a hockey game.

"I wish [Danny] Briere was out, I wish [Jeff] Carter was out. Those are the guys you really have to worry about."

Perhaps expecting blood after Dan Carcillo's fight against Rangers leading scorer Marian Gaborik back on Jan. 21, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette tried to add beef to his already tough lineup.

"I didn't know what to expect," Laviolette said. "We wanted to put a lineup in there that was going to bang on the road and get in and establish a physical presence. We didn't get that."

Instead, Cote played just 4:07 and contributed little more than one hit and one shot on goal. Asham also added a hit in 10:07 of work after being a healthy scratch Saturday for the first time since October.

Both players appeared at the expense of Powe and Leino, who has added firepower to the Flyers' lineup on a line with Carter and James van Riemsdyk. Leino and Powe have a combined 13 goals this season.

"It was a physical game," Chris Pronger said. "There were a lot of body checks. A lot of skating. A lot of grinding it out on the wall. [Just] maybe not with the fisticuffs you thought there were going to be."

If Cote was there for the fisticuffs, he didn't show it. Captain Mike Richards was the only player to fight, when he scrapped with Brandon Dubinsky. But Cote said Laviolette asked him not to fight Rangers goon Jody Shelley in the first period.

"I obviously know my role," Cote said. "But he [Laviolette] told me he was going to roll four lines and let me play. For me, it was to prove I can play and not just fight. I wanted to play hard and be physical and not go out there looking for fights.

"I went out there when we were up 1-0, but when I hopped over the bench he said, 'Nothing' [meaning no fighting]. I didn't want to take myself out of the lineup by not listening to him."

Without the rough-and-tumble edge, the Flyers sorely missed two skilled players who could have helped turn around their lackluster offensive attack - one that ultimately cost them a win, and up to four points in the Eastern Conference standings.

Normally, pro athletes rave about taking the train on short road trips. Players coming over from the Western Conference say it's the biggest perk of playing on the East Coast: avoiding air travel.

Players love to use their cell phones for the entire trip, be able to walk around at ease and spread out throughout the coach.

On Saturday, the Flyers' experience on their chartered Amtrak train from Philadelphia to New York was a bigger headache than they could have ever imagined. Trees knocked over by the wind and rain from the Nor'easter took out the power lines that push the electric trains.

Suddenly, a 90-minute ride turned into a 7-hour trek. The Flyers' train got stuck 500 feet from Metuchen station in North Jersey. After sitting there for 3 hours, a diesel locomotive pushed the Flyers to the Metuchen station, where they disembarked and took a bus to the Big Apple.

They left Philadelphia around 5:15 and didn't arrive in Manhattan until after midnight. Not a good way to start a week on the road, with stops in Nashville, Dallas and Atlanta.

Simon Gagne played his 650th game as a Flyer, passing John LeClair for 10th on the franchise all-time list. Gagne is just one point away from passing Gary Dornhoefer, also for 10th place, on the Flyers' all-time list for points with 518.

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