Flyers could get van Riemsdyk back

PITTSBURGH - After skating through the first two games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal without arguably their most consistent playoff performer from last spring, help may soon be on the way.

According to Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, James van Riemsdyk began skating Sunday - rehabbing from foot surgery - and is a possibility to return to practice with the team as early as Saturday.

Van Riemsdyk's status for a return in the first round remains up in the air.

Van Riemsdyk, 22, has not played since fracturing his foot on March 1. He underwent surgery to have a plate inserted in his left foot, for stability and strengthening, on March 6.

The original prognosis was for JVR to miss 4 to 6 weeks. Tuesday will mark exactly six weeks since the surgery. Until last weekend, van Riemsdyk was limited to only a walking boot.

Holmgren said van Riemsdyk has been skating by himself at the team's South Jersey practice facility every other day since Sunday - a total of three on-ice sessions so far - and will likely continue that on Saturday.

Whether van Riemsdyk will skate with his teammates remains to be seen as errant pucks add to the risk factor.

If van Riemsdyk is even half the player he was in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs, when he led the Flyers with seven goals in 11 games, he would could provide a big boost to the Flyers against Pittsburgh.

He has missed 21 straight games, including Friday's Game 2 against Pittsburgh.

As expected, veteran Pavel Kubina replaced Marc-Andre Bourdon (upper-body injury) on the Flyers' third pairing for Game 2.

One key difference between Bourdon and the 258-pound Kubina is a decrease in the Flyers' back-end mobility.