Flyers looking for top players to score

THROUGH THE FIRST two games of this grueling, Eastern Conference quarterfinal, the Flyers' Danny Briere had registered only one shot on goal.

Simon Gagne posted three shots on goal in the first two games. Jeff Carter, too, had one shot on goal in Game 1.

None of those players - who combined to score 76 of the Flyers' 236 goals in the regular season - has scored a single goal in the Flyers' first three games of the 2010 postseason.

Yet somehow, the Flyers carry a 2-1 series lead over the New Jersey Devils into tonight's Game 4 at the Wachovia Center.

Since he arrived in December, coach Peter Laviolette has preached for his team to stick to the game plan he set in place. Even during the last 2 weeks of the regular season, with his team teetering on the edge of the playoffs, Laviolette said the Flyers eventually would be rewarded if they play the right way. They were, on the last day of the regular season.

In Sunday's Game 3, Briere - skating on a line with Carter and Scott Hartnell - played the right way. That line combined for 12 of the Flyers' 34 shots on goal. But they couldn't beat goaltender Marty Brodeur.

"Marty has our number," Briere said after yesterday's practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J. "There are times during the course of the season where things are going to go in.

"Stats aren't the way [to look at this]. You've got to look at the overall game and how you're creating chances."

Briere, who finished the regular season with 26 goals, said he isn't worried and doesn't feel any pressure to contribute.

"If our line plays the way it has played the last couple games, we'll be fine," Briere said. "The chances are there. The first game wasn't good. It wasn't nearly good enough, as a line. But the last couple games we've done well, we've created."

The scoring slump for Gagne, Briere and Carter isn't limited to the playoffs. Gagne hasn't scored in nine straight games, and Carter hasn't scored in eight, dating back before he fractured a bone in his foot on March 21. And aside from Briere's all-important shootout goal in the regular-season finale against the Rangers - which doesn't count in the stats - No. 48 hasn't netted a goal in four consecutive contests.

In their absence, players such as Claude Giroux (two goals), Chris Pronger (two), Arron Asham (one) and Sunday's overtime hero, Dan Carcillo, have contributed timely goals in the playoffs.

Those additions are necessary at this time of year. But contributions from depth players can't last forever, at least not in an extended playoff run. A balance exists between role players and top-shelf scorers - and it's one the Flyers have not been able to find so far.

"I know it's just a matter of time for our line to get it going," Briere said. "It's a team game. It would be a lot more frustrating if we weren't winning games. At the end of the day, that's all that matters."

"It's going to happen," Gagne said. "At one point, it's going to go in. I just have to keep shooting the puck. [Brodeur] is a good goalie, so it's going to take good shots to beat him. At one point, I would love to see one go in."

Rest assured, Laviolette already would have hit the panic button and swapped lines if the Flyers were trailing or he wasn't seeing enough action from his top players. But Laviolette said yesterday he thinks those players are on the verge of breaking through the wall that is Brodeur.

"Those guys are getting the opportunity and the looks," Laviolette said. "I think it's just a matter of time.

"For me, their game is dialed in. You hope that they drop [in the net]. I like the things that they're doing on the ice. I think it's one of those things that you trust the process and how they play the game. All three of those guys played a really good game. They'll get rewarded eventually."

For now, Briere is keeping the faith.

"The puck just doesn't want to go in," Briere said. "That can change in a hurry."

So, too, can the Flyers' series outlook if this trio doesn't find the back of the net.

Brian Boucher was the only Flyer from Sunday's lineup to not practice yesterday . . . The Flyers are 4-0 against New Jersey at the Wachovia Center this season . . . Ville Leino will be a healthy scratch again for Game 4 . . . Lukas Krajicek and Ryan Parent are expected to remain in the lineup tonight as the Flyers' third defensive pair . . . Erik Gustafsson, an undrafted free agent signed by the Flyers in March, skated with team yesterday. *

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

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