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 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.