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Down in Florida, Flyers want to go into the all-star break with a win

The Flyers want to go into the all-star break with a positive feeling. Standing in their way is Florida, the surprising Southeast Division leader and a team that has not made the playoffs in the last 10 seasons.

The Flyers will play their last game before the all-star break tonight at Florida. (Ron Cortes/Staff file photo)
The Flyers will play their last game before the all-star break tonight at Florida. (Ron Cortes/Staff file photo)Read more

The Flyers want to go into the all-star break with a positive feeling. Standing in their way is Florida, the surprising Southeast Division leader and a team that has not made the playoffs in the last 10 seasons.

The teams will meet Tuesday at the BankAtlantic Center, where the Flyers scored a 3-2 win on Nov. 13.

"We're going on a little break, and it's important to end on a good note," center Claude Giroux said after Monday's practice in Voorhees.

Actually, Giroux and teammate Kimmo Timonen won't have much time off because they are playing in the All-Star Game in Ottawa on Sunday. But after Tuesday's game, their teammates, including a handful of injured players, will not play again for a week and will have a chance to regroup. (Rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read will participate in the all-star skills competition.)

The Flyers, who will be accompanied by their dads for the game in South Florida, are coming off a weekend in which they defeated New Jersey, 4-1, and lost in a shootout to Boston, 6-5.

The Flyers (28-14-5) will again use a rookie-laden lineup against the Panthers (22-15-10) because of a slew of injuries. Danny Briere and James van Riemsdyk are out indefinitely with concussions, and Jaromir Jagr (groin) and Zac Rinaldo (upper-body injury) aren't expected to return until next week, at the earliest.

Defenseman Chris Pronger is out for the season with a concussion.

Florida is led by former Flyer Kris Versteeg, who has 42 points (19 goals, 23 assists).

Trade talk

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren downplayed talk of adding a defenseman before the Feb. 27 trade deadline.

"I think we still have four guys who can play a lot of minutes in all situations, and the two young kids we have playing have held their own," he said. "I don't feel that's something we have to do. I don't think we're any different from other teams looking around to see what's available."

The four defensive mainstays: Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Matt Carle and Andrej Meszaros. The rookie defensemen are Marc-Andre Bourdon and Erik Gustafsson.

Concussion concerns

Concussions will be a main topic when general managers get together in the near future.

"We have meetings coming up in March and I'm sure that will be on the agenda," said Holmgren, whose team has had six players sidelined with concussions this season. "But in terms of having any kind of talk before that, we all have issues . . . whether it be with the big team or the minor-league team, every team has issues with concussions."

Asked if restoring the red line would slow down the game's speed and help reduce concussions, Holmgren said, "I think there's room for a lot of different debate here."

Breakaways

The Flyers are 0-3 in shootouts this season and an NHL-worst 19-37 lifetime. Coach Peter Laviolette said there hasn't been a lot of "good, quality practices" in the shootout "based on where we're at in the schedule" and all the traveling the Flyers have done. He hinted the Flyers, who devote a lot of time on the power play, will practice shootouts more in the season's second half. . . . Rookie Brayden Schenn has filled in admirably as Jagr's replacement on Giroux's line. . . . Injured center Blair Betts helped out at practice in an unofficial coaching capacity.