Eric Wellwood

MATT READ waddled off the ice and into the Flyers dressing room on Thursday and snuck over to his stall in the only quiet corner. It's a space usually reserved for the Flyers' unnoticed players, with his locker located next to Zac Rinaldo and Eric Wellwood. There, it would be easy to forget that the player unlacing his skates led all rookies in goals last season, topping rookie of the year Gabriel Landeskog and burgeoning Oilers star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Read, 26, was one of only two rookies to break the 20-goal pleateau, finishing with 24 - nearly 10 percent of the Flyers' entire total (264)

Representatives of the NHL and the players association met at the league's New York City headquarters on Friday, trying to find some common ground that will lead to a new collective-bargaining agreement and an end to the lockout. But while the sides did not discuss the core economic issues, they made some contentious comments after the meeting. "You can meet all you want, but you can't make them talk about what they don't want to talk about," Bill Daly, one of the league's negotiators, told reporters.

It was an unofficial practice because the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement still has to be signed, but the Flyers who skated in Voorhees on Monday seemed to have some extra zip during the one-hour session. It had everything to do with the tentative agreement that was forged between the league and the players' union on Sunday, ending the 113-day lockout. "It's been a long four months," said defensemen Kimmo Timonen, one of five Flyers who practiced Monday. "You kind of have to try to be in shape just in case this happens.

Danny Briere's flair for postseason heroics, and James van Riemsdyk's rekindling his playoff magic from last season were the main stories in the Flyers' 4-3 overtime win over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday afternoon. But several little things contributed mightily to the opening-game victory in the Eastern Conference semifinals at the Wells Fargo Center. Things such as rookie Eric Wellwood's using his speed to draw two New Jersey penalties. Or the Flyers winning 55 percent of the faceoffs, including Claude Giroux taking 13 of his last 19 draws - after going just 1 for 6 during his team's awful first period.

From Frequent Flyers, the Daily News' Flyers blog: Flyers forward Tom Sestito enjoyed his time playing in England during the lockout. Except, you know, for the inedible food . . . and the fact that he came down with a case of the mumps. "They did the blood work and I ended up with a disease from the 1930s. I felt like I was on the Oregon Trail," Sestito said, laughing it off on Friday. "Turns out, a teammate's wife had it. I was already back in the U.S. for 6 days. I woke up one morning, my glands were all swollen, and I looked like 'Hitch.' [Will Smith in movie of the same name, not former coach Ken Hitchcock]

The NHL, despite a record $3.3 billion in revenue last season, locked out its players at midnight Saturday. This lockout follows the one in 2004-05, when the season was canceled, and would be the third since Gary Bettman was named the commissioner in 1993. "Nobody wants to make a deal and play hockey more than I do," Bettman said during a news conference Thursday in New York. "This is what I do. This is what my life is about in terms of how I spend most of my waking hours. This is really hard.

MARCH YOUR Penguins back home, Pittsburgh, and from your series loss to Philadelphia, take this lesson: Flightless birds shouldn't puck with the Flyers. From Claude Giroux's first goal just 32 seconds into the game to Brayden Schenn's final tally just seconds from the end, the orange and black clicked like clockwork on Sunday, even if the old ultraviolence seen earlier in the series was lacking. Flyers fans at the Wells Fargo Center worked like a well-oiled machine, too - pulsing in unison, chanting as one and blowing their lids when the team finally secured the opening round of the Eastern Conference in Game 6. "I am awesome!"

Driving from his home in Maine to South Jersey earlier this week, Terry Murray noted a strange coincidence involving the NHL's latest labor dispute. "Three times there's been a lockout - and all three times I've been with the Flyers when it happened," said Murray, who is getting ready to start his first year as head coach of Philadelphia's top minor-league affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms. This lockout will benefit Murray and all the AHL teams, because they will have an influx of NHL talent.

Rookie Scott Laughton is sticking with the Flyers. As expected, the Flyers kept Laughton - the team's first-round pick last June - on their Opening Day 23-man, thanks to extra roster space provided by Danny Briere's wrist injury. According to reports, Laughton will be one of 10 junior players to make the Opening Day cut. Seven other underage players were sent back to their junior teams earlier in the week. "With Danny's situation being as it is, it just gives us a few days to give him a bit longer look," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said.

Matt Read is making an impact in his first NHL training camp. Fact is, the 25-year-old rookie forward has played so well that it would be surprising if he didn't make the Flyers. Displaying great speed and being strong on the puck, Read has resembled the player who was so effective in a brief AHL stint late last season, when he had seven goals and six assists in 11 games with the Adirondack Phantoms. That look-see, Read said, helped prepare him for camp. "With those 11 games, I had to learn and adjust to the speed of the game," he said.