Flyers Notes: Flyers' Pronger still rounding into form

In the first few weeks, Chris Pronger has downplayed his off-season knee surgery and how it has affected his play.

But it's obvious that the 36-year-old Flyers defenseman is still rounding into form.

Pronger missed the preseason and the first two regular-season games. He had played six games entering Tuesday.

"I think it's coming, but I also think he'd be the first to say his first six games haven't been vintage Chris," said Flyers defenseman Sean O'Donnell, who also played with Pronger in Anaheim and is one of his closest friends.

"It's tough to come back from [knee surgery]. . . . As much as many of us don't enjoy preseason, it's a necessity. You get the kinks out. You get the conditioning back. You get the stamina and the stopping and the starting and the grinding that you can't get in practice."

Entering Tuesday, Pronger had one assist and was even in the plus-minus ratings.

"Trying to get his knee better while playing 20-plus minutes a night isn't an easy thing to do," O'Donnell said before decisioning Buffalo's Cody McCormick in a first-period fight.

"I don't think any of us are at where we were at in the playoffs last year," coach Peter Laviolette said. "I mean, you're at the top of the mountain in your conditioning and your confidence. You work to get to that point and continue to try to get better every day. Prongs has shown a lot of courage coming back in here."

In an emotional ceremony, the Flyers honored the late Barry Ashbee before Tuesday's game, and his widow, Donna, and their children, Dan and Heather, were given the No. 4 banner that used to hang at the Spectrum.

Ashbee was a standout defenseman for the Flyers in the 1970s who battled numerous injuries before becoming an assistant coach with the team. He died of leukemia in 1977.

Bob Clarke, the Flyers' senior vice president and a former teammate of Ashbee's, keeps a photo of the defenseman in his office.

"Besides courage, he played with all kinds of injuries - he had back surgery and all that kind of stuff," a teary-eyed Clarke said of Ashbee, whose career ended when he was hit in the eye with a puck in the 1974 Stanley Cup semifinals. "Team play was the biggest thing for Barry, and everybody should be treated the same. . . .

"I was 21 or 22 when he first came along. You're still doubting what's right and what's wrong at that age. He really confirmed to me that it's about everybody. And everybody is the same."

Clarke said Ian Laperriere, who is sidelined with post-concussion syndrome, reminds him of Ashbee with his "ability to play hard every single night. To play through injuries. . . . [Ashbee] had back surgery, that's why the Bruins let him go. They didn't think he was ever going to play again. He had the neck thing, too; he wrecked up his neck and had to wear that collar around his neck, couldn't turn his head. But he always played, wouldn't miss a practice. He was one of those strictly team guys."

- Sam Carchidi