Flyers Notes: Flyers may have to tinker for playoffs

DETROIT - If the Flyers face the New York Rangers or Boston Bruins in the playoffs, they will need short memories.

In other words, they need to forget about their regular-season drubbings against those Eastern Conference heavyweights.

"The playoffs are a whole new game," Flyers center Max Talbot said. "Everybody starts 0-0."

True, but the Flyers would have a huge psychological hurdle to clear, considering they are 1-7 against the Rangers and Bruins and have been outscored, 32-15.

The Flyers obviously don't match up well against those two teams - and that may cause general manager Paul Holmgren to tinker with his roster before the Feb. 27 trade deadline.

Nashville probably won't deal Shea Weber or Ryan Suter, so Holmgren could go after another defenseman, such as Toronto's Luke Schenn, Carolina's Bryan Allen (who would have to waive a no-trade clause), or Montreal's Hal Gill.

Before Sunday's game, Holmgren claimed that the Flyers' problems against the Bruins and Rangers would not affect how he approaches the trade market.

Voracek sits

Winger Jakub Voracek, who sat out the third period of Saturday's 5-2 loss to the Rangers, missed Sunday's game because of an upper-body injury. Holmgren said he did not have a head injury.

Breakaways

Goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was the Flyers' surprise starter Sunday. Coach Peter Laviolette said Ilya Bryzgalov needed another day to get back his strength after missing two games because of the flu. The Flyers entered the night 8-3-2 with Chris Pronger in the lineup and 23-14-5 without him. . . . This does not compute: The Flyers began Sunday 18-8-2 on the road and 13-9-5 at home. . . . Nicklas Lidstrom played in his 1,550th game with Detroit on Sunday, moving to No. 2 in franchise history. The legendary Gordie Howe holds the club record with 1,687 games. . . . Eric Wellwood was recalled from the AHL's Phantoms. He replaced Voracek, starting the game on a line with Max Talbot and Matt Read.