Laviolette moves Briere to Flyers' top line

Hoping to awaken his team's sleepy offense, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette juggled his lines during practice Thursday in Voorhees, moving Danny Briere to the top unit to replace Matt Read.

Briere played left wing on a line with center Claude Giroux and right wing Wayne Simmonds.

Giroux and Briere played together in Germany during the lockout, and they have been occasional linemates in the past with the Flyers.

"We weren't generating as much as we'd like in New York," Laviolette said about Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Rangers. "We switched it up in the third period and put Danny there....and they played well together, so we'll try it and see where it goes."

Laviolette said having Briere and Giroux together was a "nice complement _ one sees the ice really well and one can put the puck in the back of the net very well. A lot of players might enjoy playing with Claude, too, because he does see the ice and he's able to make a lot of plays. When you get someone who's a natural goal scorer like Danny, it coule be a good fit."

The Flyers (2-5) need a spark. They have scored a total of five goals in their five losses.

Here are the new lines for Friday's game in Washington against the strugglin Capitals:

* Giroux centering Briere and Simmonds.

* Sean Couturier centering Read and Mike Knuble.

* Bryaden Schenn centering Tye McGinn and Jake Voracek.

* Max Talbot centering Ruslan Fedotenko and Zac Rinaldo.

The D pairings: Kimmo Timonen-Luke Schenn; Braydon Coburn-Bruno Gervais; Nick Grossmann-Kurtis Foster.

A righthander was on each defensive unit.

Quotable: Laviolette on goalie Ilya Bryzgalov having a poor record despite a superb start: "It's like a pitcher that goes out on the mound and doesn't get the run support he needs to win a game."

Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.