Pronger misses practice as Flyers gear up to begin playoffs against Sabres

The Flyers' playoff slogan is: "With our will . . . we will."

Maybe it should have been: "If the switch is there . . . we will find it."

The "switch," of course, is what they say they will turn on when the playoffs begin Thursday against the surging Buffalo Sabres at the Wells Fargo Center.

Never mind that the Flyers won just seven of their last 21 games.

Never mind that they blew the Eastern Conference's top seed.

Never mind that their team leader, injured defenseman Chris Pronger, did not skate at practice Monday in Voorhees.

The playoffs are here. Time to resume the gritty, aggressive play that carried them to last year's Stanley Cup Finals.

Time to turn on the switch.

"We've been waiting 82 games to get back to this position," winger Scott Hartnell said after Monday's crisp practice. "Losing last year in the Finals was devastating. You think about it a lot."

Hartnell said the Flyers have been "waiting all year" for the playoffs to start.

"Maybe that's why we had the slide in the last couple weeks," he said.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren refused to address Pronger's injury situation - he has been sidelined for about five weeks with a broken right hand - and whether he will play in Thursday's playoff opener. He reiterated that Pronger was day-to-day.

Hartnell said the team would welcome Pronger back "with open arms. . . . He gets away with a lot of stuff and creates a presence."

The season-ending loss to Chicago in last year's Finals, many of the players said, will keep them focused in this spring's grueling tournament.

"Guys are more hungry," said center Claude Giroux, who led the Flyers with 51 assists and 76 points. "They want two more wins than last year."

"We've known since December, with the start we had, that we'd be playing in the playoffs," center Danny Briere said. "So, finally, it's here. Now we have to do it on the ice, but I like the feeling around here. There's excitement in the air."

The Flyers need to set the tone early in Game 1, Giroux said.

"It's going to be important that, right off the bat, in the first game, we start playing the way we can," Giroux said. "With all the experience we had from last year, guys are excited, and the confidence is a little more there."

Buffalo is feeling good about itself. A 16-4-4 finish will do that.

"A team playing with a lot of confidence is always dangerous," said Briere, a former Sabre. "And they have [Ryan Miller] back from an injury, who could probably be the best goalie in the NHL. We have to find a way to get to him."

Miller had a good season, but not an outstanding one. Still, he has the potential to go on a hot streak.

"I've played with a lot of really good goalies," Briere said, "but his competitiveness and the work he puts in is one of the reasons why he's one of the best goalies in the league. When I was there, he was the first guy on the ice and the last guy off at practice."

Funny thing is, the same work ethic is displayed by Miller's counterpart, Flyers rookie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Miller's edge in experience is why some national hockey writers are picking the seventh-seeded Sabres to upset the second-seeded Flyers.

"It's nothing really new to us," Briere said. "It was the same way through the playoffs last year. I like that people are not really seeing the Flyers as the team to beat. It's not a big deal to us."

Coach Peter Laviolette agreed.

"We had a pretty good year," he said. "We won a lot of hockey games. Where did we finish? Third out of 30? That's not so bad. Guys who have proven themselves in the playoffs in the past are veteran players in here. We have a lot of experience to draw on."

Now if they can just locate that switch.