Scottie Upshall

Flyers coach John Stevens tinkered with his lines over the weekend and, surprisingly, the most effective group turned out to be the one with the least experience. That's the line of Claude Giroux centering Scottie Upshall and Darroll Powe. Giroux, a converted winger, and Powe are rookies. Upshall, at 25, is the group's elder statesman. "They showed a lot of jump," Stevens said after yesterday's practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. In two weekend wins, the line combined for seven points and was plus-8.

The Flyers made the Montreal Canadiens look so inept in the first two?plus periods last night that fans at the Bell Centre booed their hometown team. How Philadelphian of them. The Flyers played perhaps their best game of the five-week-old season, getting strong goaltending from Marty Biron and goals from Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter as they defeated the powerful Canadiens, 2-1, before an unhappy sellout crowd. The Flyers, now 6-6-4, had been winless (0-4-3) in seven games against teams that took a winning record into last night.

RW Arron Asham: Signed as free agent, July 7, 2008. G Johan Backlund: Signed as free agent, March 26, 2009. D Oskars Bartulis: Drafted 2005, third round, 91st overall. C Blair Betts: Signed as free agent, Oct. 1, 2009. G Brian Boucher: Signed as free agent, July 1, 2009. RW Danny Briere: Signed as free agent , July 1, 2007. LW Daniel Carcillo: Traded from Phoenix for Scottie Upshall and a second-round pick in 2011, March 4, 2009.

Scottie Upshall's miseries on the ice continue. The 24-year-old right winger suffered a sprained lower right ankle Wednesday in the Flyers' 4-3 loss to Washington. He will be sidelined for seven to 10 days, general manager Paul Holmgren said. Upshall's ankle was placed in a cast yesterday, the Flyers said. On Tuesday night in Atlanta, he injured the upper part of the same ankle after colliding with the Thrashers' Jim Slater. Ankle problems have dogged Upshall. He missed five games after spraining the same ankle on Dec. 29 in Tampa.

After watching the Flyers' defense struggle without the injured Braydon Coburn, general manager Paul Holmgren called up rookie Ryan Parent yesterday. "We want to work him into the team," Holmgren said. What does this say about a team that has lost four straight? "The overall team has to play better," defenseman Kimmo Timonen said. "The desperation level has to be higher than the last four games. We all have to realize us being out of the playoffs is not that far away.

One game into the exhibition season, the Flyers' new first line showed promise in last night's 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils at Sovereign Bank Arena. Scottie Upshall scored the game winner. The game offered the first chance to see $52 million center Danny Briere playing with Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble under game conditions. "Whether we score zero goals or seven goals, it doesn't change what we're trying to do, which is build chemistry," Briere said. "That's the goal, not being perfect right off the bat. " The departed Peter Forsberg was a lefthander.

What do the Flyers have in common with some of the NHL's worst teams? They surrender shots on goal at an alarming rate. The Flyers are allowing an average of 32.4 shots on goal per game. Only four NHL teams - Tampa Bay (33 per game), the New York Islanders (33.1), Atlanta (33.1) and Florida (34.5) - are yielding more shots. If the season ended today, the Flyers are the only team in that group who would qualify for the playoffs. In Tuesday's 3-2 loss in Detroit, the Flyers allowed the Red Wings to skate around them, find open space and launch 48 shots.

Chad LaRose and Rod Brind'Amour scored 28 seconds apart late in the third period last night, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers, 4-2, for their club-record 10th straight home victory. LaRose finished with two goals, and Eric Staal had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who extended their season-best winning streak to seven while surpassing the nine consecutive home wins they had in 2005-06, when they won the Stanley Cup. They haven't been to the postseason since, but they took another step toward wrapping up a playoff berth, jumping past the idle Flyers and Penguins into fourth place in the East with 93 points.

ATLANTA - He has a slight but noticeable limp, and is wearing a brace on his hip. Still, it could have been a lot worse. When Randy Jones went to Nashville for hip surgery he was expecting to undergo an extensive series of repairs to his labrum, cartilage and ligaments. He also was supposed to have the bone shaved. That would have resulted in the Flyers' defenseman being out 14 to 16 weeks. "I woke up after I had it done and the doctor came in and told me what he had to do and what he didn't do," said Jones, who is with the team on this one-game trip.

The Flyers send Scottie Upshall and a second-round pick to Phoenix for Daniel Carcillo. Carcillo is just a thug on the ice with minimal talent. We already have Cote and Asham. Why do we need a third tough guy? I had high hopes for the Giroux, Briere and Upshall line. I thought they could be an exciting line that could cause mismatches with other teams due to their speed and skill. The only thing that makes sense is the Flyers are dumping salary to make another move. The deadline has passed, so it looks like that will not happen.

In the 16 months since the Flyers traded Joffrey Lupul back to Anaheim - in Lupul's second career trade that involved Chris Pronger - the former Flyers fan favorite has played just 23 games for the Ducks. Not by choice. It has been 10 months since a routine back surgery to repair a herniated disk changed Lupul's life. Shortly after his surgery, Lupul, 27, came down with a rare and unnamed blood infection that has kept him off the ice since last December. "I never felt sick or anything like that," Lupul said in a phone interview.

The Flyers avoided what could have been a highly divisive arbitration process by signing Dan Carcillo to a one-year contract on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Carcillo signed for $1,075,000, putting the Flyers about $2.5 million over the $59.4 million cap. They have until the season starts to get below the cap. Carcillo, a restricted free agent, had declined the Flyers' qualifying offer on June 28. The offer included the mandatory 5 percent...

RW Arron Asham: Signed as free agent, July 7, 2008. G Johan Backlund: Signed as free agent, March 26, 2009. D Oskars Bartulis: Drafted 2005, third round, 91st overall. C Blair Betts: Signed as free agent, Oct. 1, 2009. G Brian Boucher: Signed as free agent, July 1, 2009. RW Danny Briere: Signed as free agent , July 1, 2007. LW Daniel Carcillo: Traded from Phoenix for Scottie Upshall and a second-round pick in 2011, March 4, 2009.

The grueling NHL season is all about ebb and flow. Unlike last year, the Flyers "ebbed" at the wrong time. Throughout the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, which ended with the Pittsburgh Penguins' 5-3 comeback win over the Flyers on Saturday, coach John Stevens said he disagreed with the idea the Flyers stumbled down the stretch. Forget the numbers, Stevens said. Forget that the Flyers went 4-5-1 in their last 10 regular-season games - 0-3 against playoff teams - and blew the fourth seed.

PITTSBURGH - The Flyers were wrong. From coach John Stevens to the last man on the roster, the Flyers were sure they would be just fine once the playoffs started. The puzzling lack of intensity and lapses in concentration that marked the end of the regular season, they said, were nothing to worry about. Wrong. The very same issues - boneheaded penalties, careless turnovers - plagued the Flyers in an ugly 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. They were wrong about the playoffs magically locking in their focus and stirring their blood.

Dan Carcillo has struggled since the Flyers acquired him last month from Phoenix for Scottie Upshall and a second-round draft pick in 2011, but the left winger had perhaps his strongest game with his new team on Tuesday. Carcillo took six shots, was credited with three hits, and played so well that coach John Stevens moved him from the fourth line to the third line, where he took several shifts with Claude Giroux and Danny Briere. "It was a good step," said Carcillo, one of a handful of players at yesterday's optional practice in Voorhees.

Chad LaRose and Rod Brind'Amour scored 28 seconds apart late in the third period last night, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers, 4-2, for their club-record 10th straight home victory. LaRose finished with two goals, and Eric Staal had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who extended their season-best winning streak to seven while surpassing the nine consecutive home wins they had in 2005-06, when they won the Stanley Cup. They haven't been to the postseason since, but they took another step toward wrapping up a playoff berth, jumping past the idle Flyers and Penguins into fourth place in the East with 93 points.

The early returns on Flyers coach John Stevens' massive line-juggling are mixed, and whether the groups stay intact for the playoffs will probably be determined by their effectiveness in the regular season's final eight games. Heading into last night's game against the New York Islanders, the Flyers were 3-1 since Stevens' Grand Experiment. That is, he shook up all four lines, trying to get more scoring balance on the top three units - and getting Danny Briere more involved with the offense.

What do the Flyers have in common with some of the NHL's worst teams? They surrender shots on goal at an alarming rate. The Flyers are allowing an average of 32.4 shots on goal per game. Only four NHL teams - Tampa Bay (33 per game), the New York Islanders (33.1), Atlanta (33.1) and Florida (34.5) - are yielding more shots. If the season ended today, the Flyers are the only team in that group who would qualify for the playoffs. In Tuesday's 3-2 loss in Detroit, the Flyers allowed the Red Wings to skate around them, find open space and launch 48 shots.