Coach wants more than .500 from the Flyers

Peter Laviolette appeared annoyed at hearing yet another question about the Flyers' trying to reach a level the coach considers way too low.

When the Flyers host the Ottawa Senators in Saturday's noon affair at the Wells Fargo Center, they will be attempting for the seventh time this season to scale Mount .500.

The Flyers (10-11-1) are 0-6 in their other attempts to reach .500 and have been outscored by 29-12 in those games.

"Five hundred isn't going to do anything for us," he said following a long practice on Friday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. "If we finish at .500, we will look back at this year and say, 'What a mess.' "

He won't get much argument on that statement.

"We need to win hockey games and get way above the .500 level if we are going to have the opportunity to play for the Cup," Laviolette said.

With a condensed 48-game schedule, the Flyers have had rare opportunities for extended practice time, but Friday was one of those opportunities.

It was also a day in which winger Tom Sestito was claimed off waivers by the Vancouver Canucks, ending his Flyers career that included two goals in 21 games over two years. Both goals came in this year's 2-1 win over visiting Tampa Bay on Feb. 5.

"This was a great group of guys, and I wish them the best," Sestito said as he packed up in the Flyers' locker room. "Some of these relationships - I will talk with these guys for a long time."

"Tom did a good job for us, and we like to keep everybody, but unfortunately you get caught with numbers," Laviolette said. "We wish him well."

Laviolette was happy to see defenseman Erik Gustafsson return to practice. Gustafsson took a shot off his shin against Washington in Wednesday's 4-1 win.

". . . I will be ready if Coach wants me to play. I will be ready to go, I think," Gustafsson said.

Kimmo Timonen is taking a wait-and-see attitude as to whether the Flyers are ready to turn the corner.

"We only won one game," he said. "We are moving the right way, but once I see we can win three or four in a row then I can really tell we are moving the right way."

Two signings. The Flyers signed 2012 second-round draft pick Anthony Stolarz, a goaltender with the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights, and forward Brandon Alderson of the OHL's Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.

A 6-foot-6 goaltender, Stolarz was the 45th overall pick in last summer's NHL draft. In 14 appearances with London, he has a 9-2-1 record, 2.17 goals-against average, and .926 save percentage.

Alderson is an undrafted right winger who has 25 goals and 32 assists this season.

Notes. Goalie Michael Leighton cleared waivers and has been reassigned to the Phantoms. . . . Claude Giroux has averaged two points in his last six games with four goals and eight assists. . . . Saturday's game will be the first meeting with Ottawa, which had a five-game win streak snapped with Thursday's 2-1 overtime loss in Boston.