James Van Riemsdyk

Flyers Notes Trying to avoid complacency and get more life from his team's sagging offense, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette juggled three of his four lines in Sunday's matinee against Los Angeles. It didn't work. The Flyers fired 65 shots (40 on goal), but were blanked by Jonathan Quick as they fell to the Kings, 1-0, at the Wells Fargo Center. "We haven't generated as many chances as I'd like, and although it wasn't a long-term plan, it was more to just give a different look and a different feel," Laviolette said.

Score: Sabres 1, Flyers 0 How it happened: Patrick Kaleta scored the goal and Ryan Miller stopped 35 Flyers' shots. Key play: The goal came when Kaleta maneuvered himself between Flyers defensemen Danny Syvret and Matt Carle to slam home a rebound past Sergei Bobrovsky. Heroes: Miller would have been our first star. James van Riemsdyk, who was the official first star, was the best player on the ice for the Flyers. Goats: Hard to pick one player, so let's target the Flyers power-play unit, which failed to score in five chances and 9 minutes, 22 seconds with the advantage.

NEWARK, N.J. - When Claude Giroux , the Flyers' diminutive center, was smacked into the boards by Boston's mammoth Zdeno Chara during Thursday's second period, James van Riemsdyk didn't hesitate. He went after Chara. "That," Flyers center Danny Briere said, "took a lot of guts. " Chara is 6-foot-9, 260 pounds. Van Riemsdyk is 6-3, 200. "I think those type of circumstances are really good for building a team," coach Peter Laviolette said before Saturday night's game against the New Jersey Devils.

Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said Monday there was no change in the "out indefinitely" status of defensemen Andrej Meszaros and Kimmo Timonen. Meszaros, however, was spotted at the team's practice facility in Voorhees. Claude Giroux missed practice with what Holmgren called a "maintenance day," though that is supposedly the same reason Timonen and Meszaros missed practice Saturday. Giroux was slashed on the wrist Sunday by Washington's Jason Chimera. James van Riemsdyk will undergo surgery Tuesday to repair a broken bone in his left foot, suffered in Thursday's win over the New York Islanders.

JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK'S season is not getting any easier. In the first period of last night's game against the Islanders, van Riemsdyk blocked a Milan Jurcina blast from the point and broke a bone in his left foot, according to Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren. Originally, van Riemsdyk tried to remain on the bench to fight through the pain but soon left to get X-rays. For now, the Flyers have offered no timetable for his return. He will be re-evaluated by Dr. Steven Raikin today.

If multiple scouting interviews mean anything, the Flyers seem to have narrowed their focus for the draft to 6-foot-1, 170-pound center Kyle Turris, who has catapulted to the head of the list in NHL Central Scouting's final rankings. The Flyers hold the second overall pick in the June 23 draft. They have had more discussions with the 17-year-old Turris than any other player. According to league sources, the Chicago Blackhawks are leaning toward choosing Patrick Kane, the 5-9, 160-pound right winger from the London Knights, with the top pick.

James van Riemsdyk and Drayson Bowman scored two goals each for the United States, which opened the world junior hockey championship with an 8-2 rout of Germany yesterday in Ottawa. Van Riemsdyk, chosen No. 2 overall by the Flyers in last year's NHL draft, is a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire. Bowman is a forward with Spokane, of the Western Hockey League. Minnesota's Jordan Schroeder had a goal and two assists, and Colin White, of Boston University, added a goal and assisted on another.

1. Can the Flyers be more consistent?   A lack of consistency nearly cost the Flyers a shot at the playoffs, coming as close as a shootout win over the Rangers on the final day of the regular season to not even making the playoffs. Since Peter Laviolette took over on Dec. 4, the Flyers went through a five-game win streak, a four-game win streak, a five-game losing streak and a three-game losing skid. For a long stretch they alternated between winning two games and losing two games.

Flyers Notes Danny Briere, who missed two games with an upper-body injury, returned to the Flyers lineup on Thursday against the New Jersey Devils. Fellow forward James van Riemsdyk, however, was a late scratch with what the team called a lower-body injury. Coach Peter Laviolette has had to juggle his lineups without the services of Briere as well as defenseman Chris Pronger (eye injury) and centers Matt Read (upper-body injury) and Brayden Schenn (broken foot)