Matt Carle

On first impressions, defensemen Chris Pronger and Matt Carle look as if they will form a high-quality duo this season. They seemed comfortable with each other and provided one of the Flyers' few highlights as they opened the exhibition season with a listless 3-1 loss in Detroit on Wednesday. Because they were frequently playing on the penalty kill, each player logged more than 26 minutes - a stunningly high total for the preseason opener - and neither was in the lineup last night when the Flyers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-0, here at the John Labatt Centre.

MATT CARLE kept his head down, carrying a bag of ice to melt away pain from a lingering, undisclosed injury. Tuesday night's Game 5 could have been Carle's last game in a Flyers uniform. Carle, 27, one of the Flyers' most steady and underrated defensemen, finished off his 4-year, $13.75 million deal this spring. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Due to salary-cap tagging restraints, restricting teams from exceeding this year's cap figure before next year's number is announced, the Flyers cannot possibly sign Carle before July 1. That means Carle's team, with Denver-based agent Kurt Overhardt, will be able to field offers from all 29 other teams when the clock strikes noon on the first day of July.

1. SIMON GAGNE, Flyers. Gagne, playing with a fractured big right toe, provided the storybook ending for the Flyers in overtime. 2. MARK RECCHI, Bruins. Recchi's two goals nearly ended the Flyers' season. 3. MATT CARLE, Flyers. Carle tied a franchise record with four assists in a playoff game and a plus-5 rating.

The Flyers signed bruising defenseman Nick Grossmann to a multiyear deal on Friday, a move that could affect whether they re-sign Matt Carle in the offseason. Carle can become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Sources said the deal was for four years and worth $14 million. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Grossmann, who had been a prospective free agent, has missed the last two games with a knee injury but is expected to return to the lineup at the start of the playoffs next week.

PITTSBURGH - At about 7:42 last night, on the other side of Pennsylvania, a small restaurant filled with a group of Flyers dining out before tonight's season opener erupted when catcher Carlos Ruiz' throw hit first baseman Ryan Howard's glove to complete Roy Halladay's historic no-hitter. "There was a group of us at dinner, and we had it on," defenseman Matt Carle said. "It was pretty sweet. I watched the first part of the game at the hotel and finished it here at dinner. " Forward Scott Hartnell was amped about Halladay's first postseason start even before the Flyers left for Pittsburgh.

Even when he was playing with the Flyers, Steve Downie was not a player you could get to say a lot. But if the look he was wearing told anything about how he likes playing in Tampa Bay, it's all good. Downie seemed happy and upbeat as he walked into the Wachovia Center for the first time since being sent to Tampa Bay with Steve Eminger in exchange for Matt Carle on Nov. 7. It didn't take Downie long, however, to show why he can be such a liability. On his first shift of the game, Downie took Kimmo Timonen's feet out from under him, drew a penalty and the immediate ire of his former teammates.

As the Flyers prepare to host the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final on Sunday, here is how the teams fared against each other during the regular season, during which they split four games, 2-2 (Home team in CAPS): Dec. 7, MONTREAL 2, Flyers 1: In coach Peter Laviolette's second game since replacing John Stevens, the Flyers equaled a dubious franchise record with just 13 shots on goal. Game-winning goal: Michael Cammalleri. Winning goalie: Carey Price.

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.

Winger Steve Downie conceded he was surprised by the trade that sent him and defenseman Steve Eminger from the Flyers to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Matt Carle on Nov. 7. Surprised, but not disappointed. "I could sit here and could talk, but that's in my past. I'm not going to talk about it," he said when asked if he felt the Flyers had given up on him. "I've forgotten about it. It was a place I played. I'm looking forward, not in the past. " The Flyers' first-round pick (29th overall)

It's a good thing Ryan Potulny was nominated for the Hobey Baker Award this season, because he won't be around for his senior season at the University of Minnesota. The 6-foot, 192-pound junior center, a third-round draft pick of the Flyers in 2003, agreed to a two-year contract worth $1.6 million yesterday. The 21-year-old Potulny won't win the Hobey Baker Award, either. Even though he made the original cut list, he was not among the finalists announced this week: Denver defenseman Matt Carle, Boston College forward Chris Collins and Wisconsin goaltender Brian Elliott.

MATT CARLE kept his head down, carrying a bag of ice to melt away pain from a lingering, undisclosed injury. Tuesday night's Game 5 could have been Carle's last game in a Flyers uniform. Carle, 27, one of the Flyers' most steady and underrated defensemen, finished off his 4-year, $13.75 million deal this spring. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Due to salary-cap tagging restraints, restricting teams from exceeding this year's cap figure before next year's number is announced, the Flyers cannot possibly sign Carle before July 1. That means Carle's team, with Denver-based agent Kurt Overhardt, will be able to field offers from all 29 other teams when the clock strikes noon on the first day of July.

FOR THE FLYERS, 2011 was the year of living incomprehensibly. The season before had ended with a great and unexpected run to the Stanley Cup finals. The beginning of the next season had been a reaffirmation of that run, and of the team's seeming new stature. The Flyers were tops in the business by January and looked to be cruising. Then they died. It was as confounding a last couple of months as anyone could remember, as nothing could seem to rouse them. There was much fretting in the land and then it turned into a shrugging acceptance that, well, maybe they can just turn it on when the time comes.

The Flyers signed bruising defenseman Nick Grossmann to a multiyear deal on Friday, a move that could affect whether they re-sign Matt Carle in the offseason. Carle can become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Sources said the deal was for four years and worth $14 million. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Grossmann, who had been a prospective free agent, has missed the last two games with a knee injury but is expected to return to the lineup at the start of the playoffs next week.

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Flyers stood pat at the trade deadline on Monday, feeling the two recent deals they made - acquiring massive defensemen Pavel Kubina and Nick Grossman - will help make them a Stanley Cup contender. Provided, of course, that goalie Ilya Bryzgalov gets his game in order. "There wasn't anything that was pitched to us that . . . would have made us as good a team as what's on the board right now," general manager Paul Holmgren said in a conference call from the team's training facility in Voorhees.

DETROIT - Three games over two weekends against the undisputed top teams in both the Eastern and Western Conference. The Flyers entered the final frame in each of those games, either tied - as in last night's battle against the Detroit Red Wings - or down a goal, as they were in each of their contests against the New York Rangers. Two Sundays ago in New York, the Flyers evened the score in the first minute of the third period. Each high-profile game has been there for the taking.

All the bold moves the Flyers made in the offseason will mean very little if a certain future Hall of Fame defenseman isn't healthy this season. Which is why the Flyers breathed a collective sigh of relief when their latest captain, Chris Pronger, returned to action Thursday in a 2-1 exhibition win against New Jersey. With a healthy Pronger leading the defense, quarterbacking the power play, and making sure the locker room is in sync, the Flyers could have a special season.

THERE WAS already going to be plenty of emotion at the Wells Fargo Center last night. It's playoff season and the opponents are the Bruins, which creates enough of a powder keg for Flyers' fans. But add the stunning news that Osama scum Laden had finally been eradicated from the Earth and the 19,962 fans in attendance were frothing even before the puck dropped on Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal. And they weren't the only ones. "I watched the president's speech [Sunday night]

BUFFALO - There are a couple of ways to look at Chris Pronger's absence and how it has affected the Flyers' blueliners. Glass half-empty: Having Pronger sidelined for the last five weeks has increased the other defensemen's minutes and left them gassed and susceptible to mistakes. Glass half-full: The added ice time has gotten the defensemen into a rhythm and helped them play better. The Flyers, who obviously will welcome Pronger back with open arms, subscribe to the second theory, especially defensemen Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros, and Matt Carle - the players whose playing time has risen the most because of the absence of No. 20. "It's playoff time, and as many minutes as you get, you're going to feel better," Timonen said after Tuesday's practice in Buffalo.

BUFFALO - Matt Carle shrugged. With his locker stall deep inside Buffalo's HSBC Arena mashed in between that of Kimmo Timonen, Andrej Meszaros and Braydon Coburn, Carle may have been a little bit embarrassed. After all, Meszaros and the always-steady Timonen have largely been the players credited with keeping the Flyers' ship afloat without Chris Pronger for the past 19 games. The statistics - and we're not talking about the goals and assists - have painted a different picture.