Van Riemsdyk

Flyers Notes DALLAS - Can a pretty shootout goal get a player untracked? The Flyers are hoping that's the case with struggling winger James van Riemsdyk , who scored Monday on a clever shootout move against Colorado's J.S. Giguere . "He's the type of guy who can maybe pick off on something like that and maybe send it in a different direction," coach Peter Laviolette said before Wednesday's game in Dallas. "When the playoffs rolled around [last season]

After practice the other day, center Danny Briere said the Flyers had to hit the "reset" button and forget about their lapses in Winnipeg on Saturday. But instead of a reset, it looked like a replay. As they had against lowly Winnipeg, the Flyers struggled on the penalty kill Monday night, dropping a listless 4-2 decision to the Carolina Hurricanes at the Wells Fargo Center. Carolina, sparked by Alexei Ponikarovsky with two power-play goals, had been just 2-6-2 on the road.

Flyers Notes With Chris Pronger sidelined by an eye injury, the Flyers defense has struggled to clear the front of the net. But there is another area that has suffered dramatically - the power play. Entering Saturday night, the Flyers were 1 for 23 (4.3 percent) on the power play in the five games Pronger had missed. Before that, they were 11 for 40 (27.5 percent). Pronger quarterbacks the power play from the point. The Flyers have also missed Danny Briere, Matt Read , and James van Riemsdyk - all of whom man the power play - for some games because of injuries.

JAMES van Riemsdyk arrived at the Flyers practice facility in Voorhees, N.J. for a noon meeting yesterday less than 12 hours after returning from Buffalo on a postgame charter. Van Riemsdyk was feeling fresh, not at all sluggish from a bone-crunching hit along the boards with 6:20 to play in Buffalo. In fact, van Riemsdyk even skated briefly in an option practice to shake off any lingering cobwebs, a normal game-day routine to get his blood flowing. He arrived at the Wells Fargo Center at his normal time last night, fully expecting to play in last night's 4-3 shootout loss to the Devils.

So far this season, the Flyers have formed a steady procession to the penalty box, but coach Peter Laviolette doesn't seem overly concerned because the infractions are not so much from lack of discipline but from carelessness with their sticks. The Flyers went into Saturday night's game against the St. Louis Blues at the Wells Fargo Center averaging 19.2 penalties minutes a game, third highest in the NHL. They'd been shorthanded 36 times, an average of six a game. The majority of the Flyers penalties have involved sticks.

Flyers Notes 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.

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.

BOSTON - The Flyers on Thursday night returned to earsplitting TD Garden, where their disappointing season ended last spring - and caused general manager Paul Holmgren to do a roster transplant. Opening their season on a night when Boston lifted its Stanley Cup banner to the rafters, the Flyers ruined the Bruins' celebratory mood. They got goals from Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek in a hard-fought, 2-1 win that featured an impressive Flyers debut by goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

BOSTON - The Flyers on Thursday night returned to ear-splitting TD Garden, where their disappointing season ended last spring - and caused general manager Paul Holmgren to do a roster transplant. Opening their season on a night when Boston lifted its Stanley Cup banner to the rafters, the Flyers ruined the Bruins' celebratory mood. They got goals from Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek in a hard-fought, 2-1 win that featured an impressive Flyers debut by goalie Ilya Bryzgalov.

SCOTT HARTNELL felt a strange twitching motion in his right arm on Friday night in Detroit. Then he noticed that his heart seemed to be racing a little more than it should have been, considering he was sitting on the bench in Joe Louis Arena. Those two symptoms, which led to the discovery of an alarmingly elevated heart rate, may keep Hartnell off the ice indefinitely, as doctors try to figure the root of the problem. "It wouldn't go down, even after rest, during the intermission," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said of Hartnell's heart rate.