Flyers Notes: Carter rejoins Flyers for Game 3

BOSTON - It was difficult to tell what was more painful for Flyers forward Jeff Carter: Testing his injured right knee at the morning skate Wednesday or answering reporters questions that followed.

Apparently, the knee held up, because Carter was in the Flyers lineup for Game 3 Wednesday night in Boston.

Carter was used primarily on a line with Mike Richards and Kris Versteeg. He played 16 minutes, 41 seconds - 1:35 more than Mr. Postseason, Danny Briere - and finished with five shots and no points in the Flyers' 5-1 loss.

"I actually thought Jeff was probably one of our stronger players," coach Peter Laviolette said after the one-sided defeat. "He's a big person and a big body, and as the game wore on it seemed we were lacking speed as a group. But it's more natural for him, easier for him, and I thought he had a lot of chances."

  Earlier in the day, Carter was evasive in his short answers to questions about how the knee felt or how much he could do on the ice. He appeared to be skating gingerly in the morning and wasn't close to 100 percent.

Carter, who led the Flyers with 36 goals in the regular season, suffered a sprained knee when he collided with Buffalo's 6-foot-8 Tyler Myers during Game 4 of the conference quarterfinals on April 20.

Chris Pronger missed his second straight game because of what is believed to be a hamstring injury. The Flyers called it a "lower-body" injury.

Pronger, 36, did not take part in Wednesday's morning skate, and there are indications that the defenseman may not play the rest of the series.

In his only game in the series, Pronger was minus-3 as the Flyers dropped the opener, 7-3.

Adam McQuaid, Boston's impressive rookie defenseman, missed Game 3 with a sprained neck. He suffered the injury when he crashed into the end boards in Game 2.

Veteran Shane Hnidy, 35, who was signed as a free agent in late February, replaced McQuaid. Hnidy played in just three regular-season games and one playoff game for the Bruins before Wednesday.

"He has experience, and we're going to utilize him where we see fit," Boston coach Claude Julien said before the game.

Sign hanging outside TD Garden: "Black and gold runs through Boston's veins. In Philly, it's just cholesterol."

Winger Jody Shelley was a healthy scratch, and Dan Carcillo began the game on the fourth line. He had been on Richards' unit with Versteeg. . . . Only twice in their history have the Flyers won a series after losing the first two playoff games at home - in 1977 against Toronto and in 2000 against Pittsburgh. . . . Braydon Coburn and Scott Hartnell lead the Flyers in hits during this year's playoffs, with 30 each.   . . . James van Riemsdyk led the team with six shots Wednesday. He has 65 shots in 10 playoff games. He had eight or more shots in five of the first nine playoff games. Before that, he never had more than seven shots in a game during his two-year career.