Philadelphia Flyers Daily Clips- October 13, 2011 FLYERS Headlines 1. Philadelphia Inquirer Flyers hold on to beat Canucks, improve to 3-0 2. Philadelphia Inquirer-Flyers overcome penalties; cancer-video controversy 3.Philadelphia Inquirer- New-look Flyers off to an impressive start 4. Philadelphia Daily News- Flyers stay perfect with win over Vancouver 5. Philadelphia Daily News - Source: NHL players due for a 'raise' 6. Philadelphia Daily News - Flyers trade Legein to Kings 7. CSNPhilly- Flyers outlast Canucks in home opener 8.CSNPhilly.com- Reasons behind the Walker, Betts absences 9. CSNPhilly.com- Briere: Every home opener is special 10. CSNPhilly.com- Flyers trade Legein, free up contract space 11. Delaware County Times- Flyers' Meszaros, Giroux clip the Canucks 12. Delaware County Times- Flyers Scoop: Simmonds already qualifies as pleasant surprise 13. Bucks County Courier- Times- Coach wants better face-off numbers 14. Bucks County Courier-Times- Something to cheer for 15. Camden Courier- Post-The Flyers played Russian roulette Wednesday night and lived to tell about it. 16. Camden Courier- Post- Couturier ready to bunk with Briere for Thursday 17.NHL.com- Flyers make it three straight with win over CanucksThursday, 18. NHL.com- Kings acquire Legein from FlyersWednesday, 19. ESPN.com- Andrej Meszaros' goal extends Flyers' perfect start 20. TSN.ca- Flyers remain undefeated after close win over Canucks Vancouver Canucks Headlines (FLYERS Last Opponent) 1. The Province- Canucks best at beating themselves in 5-4 loss to Philly 2. The Province- 'I would have liked to make a big save,' Luongo says as Canucks fall to Philly 3. Vancouver Sun- Canucks fall flat against Flyers in 5-4 loss NHL Headlines 1. TSN.ca- McKenzie: Realignment ignites passionate debate 2.TSN.ca- Stars acquire forward Nystrom from Wild FLYERS Articles 1. Philadelphia Inquirer Flyers hold on to beat Canucks, improve to 3-0 Sam Carchidi Maybe the Eagles' Vince Young was talking about the guys who play across the street from Lincoln Financial Field when he made his "Dream Team" claim.

OK, it's only three games. There will be growing pains for the new-look Flyers; there will be many potholes to navigate on the road to 82 games. But three games into the season, the summer's Orange Overhaul looks almost golden. Shifty center Claude Giroux collected three points and defenseman Andrej Meszaros scored the game-winner as the Flyers outlasted the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday, 5-4, and raised their record to 3-0 for the 11th time in franchise history. The Flyers, outplayed over the last two periods, killed four late penalties to hold off a furious Vancouver comeback. After getting the game's first four power plays and dominating the opening period, the Flyers were outshot, 31-13, over the last two periods. "We found a way to win tonight," said winger James van Riemsdyk, who scored his first goal of the season. "It wasn't exactly the prettiest of wins, but we found a way. Those are games you have to find a way to win throughout the year." With a sellout crowd watching their home opener at the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers blew 3-1 and 4-2 leads before Meszaros took a pass from Danny Briere, skated into the left circle, and beat Roberto Luongo with a high shot to the glove side. That put the Flyers ahead, 5-4, with 15 minutes, 20 seconds left. Sixty-one seconds earlier, Daniel Sedin's power-play goal had knotted the score at 4. The late penalty kills preserved the win. The Canucks "obviously are pretty good at finding those lanes," Giroux said, "but at the end of the game, we did a great job of shutting them down." The Flyers allowed 40 shots - just three fewer than in the first two games combined. Giroux (goal, two assists) already has three goals. "I feel so lucky to play with two people like that," Giroux said of linemates James van Riemsdyk and Jaromir Jagr. "They win all the battles, and they're doing a good job of finding me in the slot." Giroux has scored a goal in each of the Flyers' three games - wins over defending Stanley Cup champion Boston, New Jersey, and Cup finalist Vancouver. On Saturday, when Mike Richards and the Los Angeles Kings visit the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers will try to go to 4-0 for the eighth time in their history - and first since 1995.

Giroux had three points in the opening period as the Flyers - aided by two power-play goals in four early chances - built a 3-1 lead against a Vancouver team that took Boston to Game 7 in last June's Stanley Cup Finals. But Henrik Sedin, who injured his hip in the previous game, took advantage of a Flyers turnover and scored on a rebound, trimming the deficit to 3-2 early in the second period. For the second time in the game, however, the Flyers answered quickly. Winger Jakub Voracek scored from the left circle after a nice set-up by Sean Couturier, who notched his first NHL point. The goal was scored 1:51 after Sedin's. In effect, Couturier and Voracek were acquired in the deal that sent Jeff Carter to Columbus in June. Couturier, 18, who is making a strong bid to remain with the Flyers for the entire season, was selected by the Flyers with the eighth overall pick in the draft. With about six minutes left in the second period, Couturier's bid for his first NHL goal clanked off the right post. About 11/2 minutes later, Vancouver inched to within 4-3 as Chris Higgins snuck behind the Flyers defense and scored from the side of the net. Earlier, power-play goals by Giroux and Pronger had given the Flyers a 2-0 lead. Giroux scored after Pronger's long pass took a crazy carom off the boards and onto the little center's stick in front of the net. Pronger, off a feed from Giroux, scored on a point drive, with Wayne Simmonds screening Luongo. 2. Philadelphia Inquirer-Flyers overcome penalties; cancer-video controversy Sam Carchidi For the Flyers, their home opener Wednesday was a game of survival. They held off a furious Vancouver rally and scored a draining 5-4 win at the sold-out Wells Fargo Center. The new-look Flyers are 3-0 for just the 11th time in franchise history. Though happy to knock off the talented Canucks, coach Peter Laviolette knows his team needs to be more disciplined. The Flyers gave Vancouver five third-period power plays. The Flyers stopped the last four, with Max Talbot and rookie Sean Couturier keying the penalty kill. “It’s always easier when you win a game to go back and look at it and make corrections,” Laviolette said. “There’s still things we can do better, but certainly we don’t want to go _ or need to go _ to the box that much.”

Coutuirer played 7:28 of his 17:45 on the penalty kill, while Talbot played 9:02 of his 16:12 on the PK. The Flyers have beaten the Stanley Cup finalists _ Boston and Vancouver _ and New Jersey. “It’s a good start, but because we’re a young team, we’re going to have moments where we get a little lax and get away from what works,” said defenseman Chris Pronger, who had a goal and an assist. “We need to continue to work on the consistency part of our game _ and make sure night in and night out it’s wave after wave. Get on the forecheck and skate, use the young bodies we’ve got up front to skate teams into the ground. "We did a great job of that in New Jersey,” said Pronger, referring to Saturday’s defensive-minded 3-0 win, “and tonight we let off the gas a little bit.” The Flyers blew leads of 3-1 and 4-2, but regrouped and won it on Andrej Meszaros’ goal with 15:20 left, which snapped a 4-4 tie. One of the Flyers’ five third-period penalties was called against James van Riemsdyk for apparently arguing with the official. He was given two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. "There was a little bit of a misunderstanding. I shouldn’t have put myself in that kind of situation,” van Riemsdyk said. “It was stupid. I am glad we were able to win the game because that was a dumb, dumb penalty and that will come back to haunt you later in the year. I am going to keep my mouth shut from here on out.” Van Riemsdyk said his comments to the referee were “misinterpreted. He thought I was talking to him and that wasn’t what I was doing.” While JVR was in the penalty box, Vancouver’s Daniel Sedin scored to briefly tie the score at 4-4. Sixty-one seconds later, Meszaros scored what proved to be the game-winner. It was the third time the Flyers had scored less than two minutes after a Vancouver goal. The Flyers blocked 27 shots, including seven by Kimmo Timonen, five by Talbot and four by Claude Giroux (three points). “Well, at the end of the day we won the game, but one of the biggest things we can take out of it is we learned a lot from it,” Pronger said. “We kind of gave them some momentum in the second period, when we should have been putting the foot on their throat.”

Breakaways. Rookie Matt Read was used on the PP and PK, and contributed an assist, four hits and two blocked shots….Vancouver outshot the Flyers, 40-27, and held a 31-13 advantage in the last two periods….Pronger on Vancouver’s potent power play: “It’s scary good. They’ve all been together, some of them since birth.” He was referring, of course, to the Sedin twins, Daniel and Henrik…..Danny Briere, Braydon Coburn and Jakub Voracek were each plus-2. During an intermision, a cancer-fighting video was shown and many fans booed when Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Chicago's Jonathan Toews and Buffalo's Ryan Miller were on the scoreboard in the Hockey Fights Cancer campaign. Most of the boos were directed at Crosby. Some tweeters called it disgraceful. "Booing an anti-cancer video should replace booing Santa Claus as the go-to explanation of Philadelphia fans," tweeted @jessespector, who covers hockey for the Sporting News. News flash: The booing wasn't directed at the cancer video. Duh. It'll be sad if the national media tries to give Philadelphia fans a black eye because some tweeters/writers misinterpreted the events. 3.Philadelphia Inquirer- New-look Flyers off to an impressive start Phil Sheridan As feeling returns to Philadelphia's shocked central nervous system, the word change is being used a lot, maybe as a coping mechanism. With linchpin Jimmy Rollins among a handful of Phillies who could be gone, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is also touting a fundamental change in the team's approach to hitting. With the Eagles off to a stunning 1-4 start, fans and media are openly discussing whether it is time (or past time) to make a change at head coach. "Change is good," Amaro said the other day. But change can also be bad, as the Eagles' coaching and roster shake-ups demonstrate. Almost always, change is scary. That made the Flyers' home opener Wednesday night so timely. Here is a team that risked major change, that tore the bandage off on an entire era, and seems to be growing comfortably into its new skin. The bombshells of July - trades that discarded cornerstones Mike Richards and Jeff Carter - were as stunning as anything that has happened with the Eagles or Phillies. GM Paul Holmgren, presumably with the approval of head coach Peter Laviolette, took a sledgehammer to the culture of his locker room. It would be like Amaro trading Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in one busy afternoon.

It is a natural impulse, when things get stale, to want to make such drastic changes. The hard part is replacing the stale and familiar with something better. We're a long way from knowing whether Holmgren succeeded. Actually, coming off the Phillies' delicious, 162-game appetizer and bitter, five-game meal, the home opener mostly served as a reminder of just how far away the Stanley Cup playoffs are. There are months of encouraging wins, confounding losses, slumps, hot streaks, and injuries before these new-look Flyers take the real test. The team that gets to late April may look quite a bit different from this one. With that caveat established, it is much better for this simultaneously younger and older team to win its first two games on the road than the alternative. And it is miles better to fire up the first sellout crowd of the season with a fast start and relentless hustle than to look tentative and confused. Ask the Eagles. If there is anything to momentum, these Flyers started things off with the right kind. Actually, the energy was different even before the puck dropped. The big screen showed various players during warm-ups. When the camera lingered on Chris Pronger, the charismatic defenseman who replaced Richards as team captain, there was an especially loud cheer. There was another for Jaromir Jagr, the Hall of Fame-bound forward who chose the Flyers for his NHL comeback. But the real blast of fresh air came in the first period, and it provided a tailwind for Claude Giroux. Now it would be disingenuous to suggest that Giroux could reach his full potential only with Richards and Carter gone. The truth is that Giroux was pretty darn good the last couple of years. He had already become the Flyers' best all-around player before the trades. But the first impression still holds. Just as the Phillies' trading away of Bobby Abreu essentially turned the team over to Rollins, Utley, and Howard, these deals were a signal to Giroux, James van Riemsdyk, and others that it is their time. Giroux pounced on a fluky carom and scored his third goal in three games. Then he slid a pass across to Pronger, who blasted a slap shot for his first goal of the season. Then Giroux headed off a poor clear by Vancouver goalie Robert Luongo and fired it back on net. Van Riemsdyk scored easily on the rebound. Overall, the Flyers looked quicker and more energetic. Matt Read and Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds forecheck aggressively and have the speed to get back quickly. Simmonds, who screened Luongo on Pronger's goal, brings a physical presence to the front of the net.

The most interesting piece of the puzzle is Ilya Bryzgalov, the Russian goaltender who represents a philosophical shift for the Flyers. He had a wild night, standing strong early and then giving up a couple of soft goals late. That was the Sedin-laden Western Conference champions out there. "That's a skilled team," Bryzgalov said. "When they're put on the power play a lot, that increases their chances." Bryzgalov held a one-goal lead through a series of furious Vancouver power plays, and the Flyers were 3-0, with wins against both Stanley Cup finalists. "We knew it was going to be a pretty good test for us, these first few games," Giroux said. "We've got a lot of things to work on. The first few games of the season, that's not the same hockey as in the playoffs." That is still months away, and it will ultimately determine whether all this change was good. But for now, at least, all this change feels good. 4. Philadelphia Daily News- Flyers stay perfect with win over Vancouver Frank Seravalli THE FLYERS are not sadomasochists. But they sure looked like gluttons for punishment last night. It started with James van Riemsdyk, just 2 1/2 minutes into the third period, when he was whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that he said was a misunderstanding. One by one, Zac Rinaldo, Jaromir Jagr, Jake Voracek and Chris Pronger followed in a parade to the penalty box. As soon as one exited, another Flyer entered - while the dangerous Sedin twins danced around the Flyers' blue line, waiting to knot the game. They had plenty of opportunities. "We made it tough, a lot of penalties," van Riemsdyk said. "My penalty was dumb. I don't want to put myself or the team in that situation. But I'm glad we were able to battle back through that adversity." The truth is, it's a stretch to call any matchup in October - even one between the last two Stanley Cup runners-up - a true litmus test. It's still early. The new-look Flyers have yet to lose a game, or even face any true adversity. The season is 1-week-old, barely 7 days into a 185-day grind that lasts until at least April.

And last night's home opener, a 5-4, nail-biting win over the Vancouver Canucks, indeed may offer no insight into how this complex marathon might be run. It was not sexy. But by killing off four penalties in the final 15 minutes, while clinging to a one-goal lead against one of the league's top teams, the Flyers passed just about as big of a test as they could face in the first month. Whether it was rookies Sean Couturier and Matt Read, who won key faceoffs and killed off the bulk of the penalties with the Flyers' top offensive weapons wilting on the bench, or goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, who warded off 16 of 17 third-period bullets from Vancouver, it was a total team effort. "Everyone was involved in that game," Claude Giroux said. "All of the boys showed up tonight." Andrej Meszaros broke a 4-4 tie that lasted just 61 seconds after Vancouver scored on van Riemsdyk's penalty. Meszaros' top shelf game-winner kept the Flyers perfect on the season, one of just five undefeated teams remaining in the East after three games. That doesn't mean the Flyers didn't sweat it out. "It was loud," Bryzgalov said of his first regular-season game at the Wells Fargo Center as a Flyer. "That was a high-skilled team. They have very skilled players. When they're on the power play, they're going to create some chances. I think we were lucky that we were able to kill that many penalties in the third period. "I don't know why we put ourselves in so much trouble." Even without sniper Ryan Kesler - and a full injury list including Aaron Rome and Mason Raymond - and a banged up Henrik Sedin, playing with a deep bruise in his right thigh, the Canucks remain one of the NHL's most formidable foes. They showed that by going 2-for-7 on the power play. Each of the Sedin twins posted two points, as Henrik and Daniel scored a goal and an assist. They were almost outdone by teammate Mikael Samuelsson, who stepped up in the absence of Kesler, who is rehabbing from surgery. "They still have one of the best teams in the NHL," Voracek said. "Their power play is very good. They made us pay quite a few times." Before that, the Flyers jumped out to 3-1 and 4-2 leads. They had plenty of their own chances on the power play, going 2-for-5 with the man-advantage, seizing two different chances in the first period alone when Vancouver skated to the box four separate times.

They failed their initial test in the third period, coughing up their one-goal lead during van Riemsdyk's penalty, but quickly evened the score. In a season sure to be full of examinations, the fast response on the scoreboard wasn't what earned last night's passing grade. It was what they staved off after that. "We battled throughout the whole game," van Riemsdyk said. "They showed how dynamic they are offensively, they came battling back every time. It was a lot of resiliency by us. Those are games we need to know how to win." Slap shots Last night's win snapped a three-game losing streak to Vancouver . . . The Flyers had 10 different players post at least one point in the win . . . When Henrik Sedin scored for Vancouver 6:41 into the second period, it was the first even-strength goal scored against the Flyers this season, breaking a streak of 146:41 . . . Rookie Matt Read (assist, four hits, two blocked shots) saw time on the Flyers' power play for the second game in a row . . . The Flyers blocked 27 shots last night. 5. Philadelphia Daily News - Source: NHL players due for a 'raise' Frank Seravalli EVERY PLAYER on the Flyers' roster who skated in a game last season is slated to receive a check tomorrow from the NHL Players' Association, in the form of a return on the escrow that was withheld from their paychecks, a league source told the Daily News. Since the 2004-05 lockout, players have a certain percentage of their check held in an escrow account in the event that they earn more than the agreed-upon 56.7 percent of hockey-related revenues at the end of the season. "It's like Christmas. It's money that you thought was lost," said Scott Hartnell, who was once the Flyers' player rep. "It's almost like receiving another week's paycheck. It's a great thing." The number withheld is based on projected revenues. The players earned 90.59 percent of their contracts in 2009-10; the other 9.41 percent remained with the owners to even the split. In 2008-09, the players lost almost 13 percent of their wages. It has occurred, too, that the players' entire escrow account is returned and then some - such as 2005-06 and 2007-08 when the league's revenue total was higher than expected. Players have had as much as 22.5 percent withheld, with the idea that they would get a portion back at the end of the season if the projection is incorrect. "You'd always rather them overshoot it," Hartnell said. "At the end of the year, I don't think 750 players would like to cut a check from their own personal bank account to pay the owners for the difference."

While escrow undoubtedly will be a hot topic in the next discussion on the collective bargaining agreement, the good news for players is that the amount being withheld for the first quarter of this season is down to just 8.5 percent, the lowest rate since the first year after the lockout. The CBA is set to expire on Sept. 15, 2012. "It takes a few years to iron out the kinks in the system," Hartnell acknowledged. "But the game is growing, people are coming to games, television revenue is way up, there is growth in every city. There's a lot to be excited about." Faceoff improvements The only thing missing in the Flyers' first two games was their dirty work in the faceoff circle. Through the first two wins, the Flyers ranked last with a 36.7 faceoff winning percentage, nearly 8 percentage points behind the next-closest team. "It's only two games," Claude Giroux said. "A lot of it is luck, to be honest. But obviously faceoffs are a big part of the game, a kind of detail that you need to work on a lot if you want to be good." The Flyers won just 33 percent (16-for-48) in their season opener at Boston a week ago, which was their lowest total since Nov. 6, 2010. Last year, they finished 17th in the NHL at 50.3 percent. So far, it's not that the Flyers' technique has changed - even with rookie Sean Couturier taking some draws. They work on it just as much in practice, with coaches dropping pucks at the end of each day's drills. Part of their trouble has been that they hadn't played any home games before last night. The faceoff game changes for the home team, as the visitor is required to place his stick down in the circle before the home player. "You have a better idea of where the other guy is going to go, so you can plan it a little more," Giroux explained. "When you're at home, you feel more comfortable. It also depends on how much your wingers help you out. There's so many variables. It's a little detail that a lot of people don't really look at, but it determines a lot of possession time." Each season consists of roughly 5,000 faceoffs. Not surprisingly, the Flyers set a season-high last night at 50.7 percent, going 36-35 in their 5-4 win over Vancouver. "There's room for improvement," coach Peter Laviolette said. "We'll continue to drop pucks for these guys. I'd like to see it better." Fresh contract space

The Flyers made a minor trade yesterday, sending Phantoms forward Stefan Legein to Los Angeles with a sixth-round pick in exchange for future considerations. Legein, 22, collected 51 points in 112 games over parts of two seasons with the Phantoms. The move solves the Flyers' contract-limit problem, which now allows Sean Couturier to remain with the team for the rest of the season if that's what Peter Laviolette decides. Decoding Walker-gate A league source close to the situation said the Flyers did not dress defenseman Matt Walker for the first two games of the season because they were uncertain of Blair Betts' waiver status in Montreal, just 1 day after he was claimed by the Canadiens. Knowing that Betts could be returned because of a failed physical at any time, the Flyers kept Walker (with his $1.7 million salary) out of game action for fear that they might violate the salary cap. Betts' return technically could have been made retroactive to the first day of the season. Sunday's surprise return of Betts to the Flyers marked the first time since the new CBA was ratified in 2005 that a waiver claim was denied. 6. Philadelphia Daily News - Flyers trade Legein to Kings Frank Seravalli The Flyers have traded Stefan Legein and a sixth-round pick in the 2012 draft to Los Angeles in exchange for future considerations. Legein, a right wing, played 41 games last season for the Flyers' AHL affiliate in Adirondack last season. 7. CSNPhilly- Flyers outlast Canucks in home opener Tim Panaccio The Flyers notched a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in their home opener. It wasn’t so much a victory as it was survival. When you give a lethal power play unit like the Vancouver Canucks five chances in one period, you’re begging for a spanking. Somehow, the Flyers weathered the worst of it Wednesday night during a 5-4 nail-biter in their home opener. “Five power plays in the third is going to give them a lot of momentum,” understated Flyer captain Chris Pronger. “They’ve got the players who can work it around.

“Bryz [Ilya Bryzgalov] made some great stops … You look at their power play. It was scary good out there. They’ve been together, some of them, since birth. That gives them pretty good knowledge.” He was referring, of course, to the Sedin twins – Daniel and Henrik – who each had identical two-point games with a goal and an assist. Vancouver struck twice on its vaunted power play but the critical stat was the Flyers killed off four straight Canuck power plays in the final 14-plus minutes to earn a win. That’s impressive, though not something you want to make a habit of. “You go to the box consistently like that, you’re rolling the dice,” said coach Peter Laviolette. “The penalty killers did a good job. Both units are talented for Vancouver, especially their first unit. “It’s good we won the game because now we can go back and look at the power plays and penalty kills. Take a look at it, show things and teach. That’s a positive … go back and make corrections. Certainly, we don’t want to go to the box that much.” The Flyers twice led early by two goals, only to have the Canucks storm back on them. Daniel Sedin made it 4-4 early in the third period with a power play goal with James van Riemsdyk was in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct. He muffed a breakaway chance. He said something to the official. It was bad penalty at the worst time. Still, it didn’t prevent Andrej Meszaros from regaining the lead a minute later off the rush with his first goal of the season via a Danny Briere pass. From that point on, it was just a matter of making the final buzzer. “We did a great job on those Sedins and they’re pretty good on the power play,” said Claude Giroux, who had the game’s first goal. The Flyers gave up a whopping 40 shots. “How many power plays did they get [though]?” Giroux asked. “On the power play, you’ll have more shots.” The Canucks had seven power plays. Bryzgalov said he likes games where he’s busy. Except he admitted this team kept him too busy. His head was on a swivel given the dazzling passing that only Vancouver possesses.

“They have very skilled players and when you put them on the power play, especially a lot, they had some pretty good chances,” Bryzgalov said. “They had some chances to score goals. We were lucky to kill that many penalties in the third period.” Wells Fargo Center had a playoff-type atmosphere to it throughout. Vancouver played terribly undisciplined hockey in the first period with stick infractions, giving the Flyers four power plays. While the Flyers came into the game just 1 for 12 with the extra man, they had been generating numerous scoring chances. Hence, the Canucks paid dearly that period. You could not have asked for a crazier first goal off the power play. Matt Read won a faceoff back to Pronger off a neutral zone draw. Pronger dumped the puck hard off the back boards – high. The puck took a crazy carom and dropped 10 feet in front of goalie Robert Luongo, who wasn’t expecting it. Nor was Luongo expecting Giroux, in fourth gear, racing into the slot to pop it over the goaltender for his third goal of the season at 7:14. Pronger scored his first goal five minutes later to make it 2-0. Again, on the power play, too. This time, Wayne Simmonds, who is looking more like Mike Knuble in front of the net, screened out Luongo as Pronger uncorked a slapper from the point. The lasting impression of the Canucks from their Stanley Cup Final loss last season – besides the riots – was how awful Luongo looked in net. He lost a simple rebound near the end of the period in the slot to JVR and the kid from North Jersey made it 3-1 at intermission. Vancouver’s lone goal that period also came on the power play at 16:35 when the Canucks’ blinding passing had the Flyers’ penalty killers running around on a Mikael Samuelsson rebound. Things changed in the second period. Henrik Sedin made it a one-goal affair at 6:41 as the Flyers gave up their first even strength goal of the season on a rebound. Rookie centerman Sean Couturier has been looking for his first NHL point and he found it minutes later, wheeling out behind the Canucks’ net and somehow seeing Jakub Voracek in the left circle. The Czech winger buried a shot inside the post on Luongo to regain the two-goal lead for the Flyers. “It was a great pass by Couturier,” Voracek said. “I just tried to put the puck up high and was able to find the back of the net.”

The period, unfortunately, did not end that way. With five minutes left, the Flyers got trapped in their own end, chasing the puck around as Vancouver played keep away. Twice Andreas Nodl failed to clear it. The result was Alex Burrows briefly found Chris Higgins alone at the right post. A split-second is all these Canucks need to score and Higgins squeezed it inside on Bryzgalov, making it 4-3 going into the last period. So, we know the Flyers can win the low-scoring affairs and now we know they can win the high-scoring ones, as well. Ten different players earned a point. “I still think there’s a ways to go with that,” Laviolette said. “It’s still tough to get a read on that. It was all power play for us in the first, all penalty kill in the third. “It’s hard to get a read on a five-on-five game. I certainly think there’s enough talent to produce offense.” 8. CSNPhilly.com- Reasons behind the Walker, Betts absences Tim Panaccio Still wondering about the Blair Betts and Matt Walker situation and how the two were related? According to a league source familiar with the Flyers' situation, the reason the club did not play Walker in Boston was that on the morning of the game Flyers officials were informed by the Montreal Canadiens that they “may” challenge the health status of Betts, who was claimed off waivers. The Flyers needed clearance by the NHL to play Walker that night. Clearance did not occur until 5:30 p.m. By then, coach Peter Laviolette had already made his lineup and wasn’t going to change it. Walker has not played a game, but then again, Laviolette is always reluctant to make lineup changes when the club is winning. Walker said this week he was highly “entertained” at all the different media reports, listing potential reasons for him not playing against the Bruins. Betts, seated in the press box, said Wednesday night that the MRI taken this week on his left knee was not encouraging. “We’re gonna take some time off,” he said. “I’m not in a hurry to do anything and playing at Glens Falls isn’t high on my list at this point in my career.” He said he is hoping rest will reduce the swelling. He also said that doctors could not assure him that surgery would even help him at this point.

The injury he said was the result of a shot off his knee in the New Jersey game here. “It ballooned up but it’s done that before, too,” he said. 9. CSNPhilly.com- Briere: Every home opener is special Tim Panaccio Danny Briere says he never tires of home openers. Not even after 13 full seasons in hockey. “Every one of them is special,” Briere said. “The energy – you feel that from the fans. Just like us, they are a little more hungry. They’re excited about hockey being back. I always get a little more adrenalin pumping for home openers for some reason. They’re special.” The Flyers may have some revenge of their mind. The Canucks thoroughly embarrassed the Flyers after Christmas last season in British Columbia with a 6-2 rout. The Canucks had played a game after a short break while the Flyers were coming off an eight-day layoff. It showed. “It was a tough situation with the week off and they had played two days earlier,” Briere recalled. “With how intense the game was, they were on a roll. We played with less of an attitude. We were going two different directions at that time. “Vancouver is a good team. They proved it, going to the Stanley Cup Final, this is definitely a good test for us.” Briere said the best thing about tonight is that the Flyers come home relaxed and “not squeezing” sticks. This is a revamped roster where chemistry is still forming throughout the lines. “We win those first two games on the road and guys are starting to realize that we got a very good team, confidence is building, it’s was a good thing we started this way,” Briere said. “If we lost, it would be a tough opener with a lot more pressure. We’re relaxed but we’re excited at the same time.” 10. CSNPhilly.com- Flyers trade Legein, free up contract space CSNPhilly.com STAFF

Sometimes, it takes a bit of juggling for a team to make sure it's sending its best lineup out on the ice day in and day out. The Flyers faced a curveball when they learned Blair Betts, who had been picked up by the Montreal Canadiens off waivers, would be returned because he failed a physical. Betts' return meant the team was once again at the league maximum number of contacts, 50, and could possibly be forced to send rookie Sean Couturier back to his junior team. And so, on Wednesday, the juggling commenced. The Flyers traded AHL winger Stefan Legein and a 2012 sixth-round pick to the L.A. Kings for future considerations, thus freeing up space for one more contract without going over the limit. With Legein off the books, the Flyers can now keep Couturier on the roster for more than 11 games if they so choose. 11. Delaware County Times- Flyers' Meszaros, Giroux clip the Canucks Anthony San Filippo PHILADELPHIA – Ken Hitchcock used to call games that had a lot of back-and-forth action, a slew of defensive mistakes and a lot of undisciplined play “track meets.” If his assessment was accurate, then the Flyers’ home opener Wednesday against the Vancouver Canucks was a decathlon. The Flyers built three separate two-goal leads only to have Vancouver storm back to tie it, but the Flyers, who won two defense-oriented games last week to start the season, proved they can win sloppy, high-scoring affairs as well. Andrej Meszaros scored the game-winning goal in the third period and Claude Giroux had a three-point performance, including scoring a goal in his third straight game, as the Flyers knocked off the defending Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks 5-4 at Wells Fargo Center. It was a game that saw the Flyers get four power play chances in the opening 11 minutes and the Canucks get five in the third period, making for a strange and disjointed flow and creating lots of wild momentum shifts. “It’s hard to get a read (on the game) because of all the penalties,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “But when you’re going to the (penalty) box that many times, you’re rolling the dice. “I think the penalty killers did a good job because Vancouver’s power play is a strong unit. It’s good that we won the game, though, because now we can go back and look at the game, show things and teach – it’s always easier to do that when you win a game.”The Canucks, who had the top-ranked power play in the NHL last season, were 2-for-7 Wednesday against the Flyers (3-0-0, six points), and were it not for the fine work of the penalty kill and goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (36 saves), it could have been even worse. “Five power plays in the third are going to give them a lot of momentum,” said Chris Pronger, who had a goal and an assist. “They have great players and Bryzgalov made some big stops. … It’s a great learning experience for our team.

“If you look at their power play it’s scary good out there. They’ve all been together for a long time — some of them since birth. That gives them pretty good knowledge.” Pronger was referring to the Sedin twins, and they didn’t disappoint as both Daniel and Henrik scored goals in the game on the power play. But the Flyers relied on new additions to prevent the Canucks from going hog wild in the third, as Max Talbot was on the ice for more than nine minutes of shorthanded play while 18-year-old rookie Sean Couturier killed penalties for 7:28. It was a fine performance, and it allowed the Flyers to get the last score in the see-saw battle. Coming with speed into the offensive zone, Meszaros took a pass from Danny Briere and blew a slap shot over the glove of Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo for the game-winning goal. The goal came just 1:01 after the Canucks completed a sizeable comeback to tie the score when Daniel Sedin beat Bryzgalov with the Canucks’ second power play goal. Vancouver was afforded that power play after James van Riemsdyk was whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct after complaining excessively to officials following a non-call on a mini breakaway by the Flyers forward in which he felt he was hooked from behind. The Flyers’ penalty kill did a nice job thwarting three Canucks chances with the man advantage in the final minutes of the game as Jaromir Jagr took a hooking penalty in the neutral zone. Jake Voracek immediately followed that by boarding former Flyer Andrew Alberts, which was promptly succeeded by an interference call on Pronger. While the Canucks controlled the tempo for the entire second period and much of the third, they fell behind because the Flyers played at a different speed early in the game, especially Giroux, who was all over the ice. Giroux opened the scoring with a lucky power play goal as Pronger’s dump-in took a strange carom off the glass and bounced to Giroux, who was all alone in front of Luongo and beat him with a wrist shot. Pronger then made it 2-0 with a power play marker of his own, one-timing a pass from Giroux through a double screen set up by Jagr and Wayne Simmonds in front of Luongo. After Mikael Samuelsson cut the lead in half, with a power play score, van Riemsdyk finished off a wild first period by scoring on the rebound of a Giroux shot. But the Canucks are dangerous, and adjusted well, controlling the second period. Henrik Sedin drew them back within a goal, but Couturier made a nifty pass to Voracek, who beat Luongo with a wrister. The Flyers always had an answer for the Canucks as far as scoring, but the biggest answer might have been Bryzgalov, who stopped 36 shots, 16 in the third period.

12. Delaware County Times- Flyers Scoop: Simmonds already qualifies as pleasant surprise Anthony San Filippo PHILADELPHIA – Flyers fans got their first glimpse of their remade lineup at the Wells Fargo Center Wednesday in the team’s home opener. And while Philadelphia fans are savvy enough that they don’t need the players to wear “Hello my name is…” stickers on their jerseys, they might need a little time to become adjusted to the roles so many of the new players will be playing. One that has come as a little bit of a surprise early has been Wayne Simmonds’ assignment. Not that he wasn’t expected to provide the energy that was on display both in training camp and the first two games of the regular season, but Simmonds wasn’t expected to be a top-six forward or a key power play cog. Yet, that’s why the Flyers were insistent upon his inclusion in the trade that sent Mike Richards to Los Angeles. Quality prospect Brayden Schenn was the prized piece in the deal, but Simmonds has proven to be the part of the deal paying faster dividends. Simmonds, 23, scored a goal last Saturday in New Jersey, got into a fight, and otherwise always seemed in and around the action. He has been especially noticeable on the power play where in each game he has been seen wreaking havoc in front of the opposing goalie, unafraid of the contact that comes when setting up shop in such a greasy area of the ice. “He’s still a young player,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “Sometimes as you get older you develop into your role. He’s a good skater who is really strong on the puck and really strong in the battles. He’s definitely a power forward. “When players come into the league at 19 years old, they are trying to figure out how to make their game. Sometimes it’s not easily identified then. But after you’ve been in the league for a few years, you really start to develop physically and experience-wise and I think he’s one of those guys. This could set up for him to be a real contributing factor. It’s a good time to get players after they have three years under their belt.” Simmonds has the opportunity to blossom into that kind of player for the Flyers. “It’s certainly different from any role I’ve had in the past, but anywhere they put me I’m going to do my best to try to help the team,” he said. “I think I’ve done a good job so far and I’m just going to try to keep doing that.” It’s not easy to find negatives when a team gets off to a quick start, but one problem that has plagued the Flyers in years past and is doing so again into the third game of the season is a struggle on faceoffs.

The Flyers started out the season by winning just 38 of their first 103 draws (36.9 percent). “Certainly the numbers are down and we could do better,” Laviolette said before the game. “It’s puck possession . .. if you get it, you go on offense. If you don’t, you have to figure out a way to get it back. Certainly it’s more advantageous to win it. It’s something we continue to try to get better at.” It’s especially important on the penalty kill, as each kill begins with a draw in the defensive zone. “We have to be better in the faceoff circle,” assistant coach Craig Berube said. “We haven’t been that good there. We’ve been working on it but we’ve been a bit cold there. We need to heat up because that kills momentum (while on the PK). “You shoot it down, they have to go down and get it. Then maybe you break up the breakout, and they have to go all the way back again. So, we’re looking to get better at that for sure.” Matt Walker continues to be a healthy scratch, but it’s starting to make sense as to why he wasn’t available the first two games of the season. Having caught wind last week that Montreal was going to try to return Blair Betts to the Flyers because he didn’t pass his physical, the Flyers weren’t sure if they would be cap compliant if Betts were to return before last Saturday. If Betts were to have returned then, Walker would have had to be sent down to be cap compliant. 13. Bucks County Courier- Times- Coach wants better face-off numbers Wayne Fish PHILADELPHIA — When the biggest problem on your team is a weak face-off percentage, things can't be going too badly. Still, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette went into Wednesday night's home opener against Vancouver acknowledging his centermen have to pick it up a bit in the draw department. Going into the Canucks game, Danny Briere (46.2 percent), Claude Giroux (38.5 percent) and Max Talbot (22.2 percent) were all below the respectable 50 percent mark. Puck possession is a big part of Laviolette's system and losing face-offs doesn't do much for helping in the process. "Certainly the numbers are down and we could do better,'' Laviolette said before the game. "It's puck possession . . . if you get it, you go on offense. If you don't, you have to

figure out a way to get it back. Certainly it's more advantageous to win it. It's something we continue to try to get better at.'' Flyers assistant coach Craig Berube makes it a point to go over the fundamentals of the face-off. It's not only quickness and anticipation, it's making the smart play. "We got to be better in the face-off circle,'' Berube said. "We haven't been that good there. We've been working on it but we've been a bit cold there. We need to heat up because that kills momentum (while on the penalty kill). "You shoot it down, they have to go down and get it. Then maybe you break up the breakout, and they have to go all the way back again. So, we're looking to get better at that for sure." Legein traded The Flyers have traded winger Stefan Legein and a sixth-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for future considerations. Legein, 22, played for the Adirondack Phantoms last season. In 41 games, he registered five goals and 12 assists for 17 points. The Flyers acquired Legein from Columbus in October 2009. By trading Legein, the Flyers have enough space to allow Sean Couturier to remain with the team past his first 11 games before the Flyers decide whether he can stay with the team or be sent to his junior team. The trade was probably spurred by the return of Blair Betts from Montreal (who claimed him off waivers last week) after he failed a physical. Betts' return put the Flyers at 50 contracts, the league limit. With Legein gone, they now have 49, one under, which give them room for Couturier. Video tribute The Flyers showed the NHL video tribute to the players and coaches who lost their lives last summer, including Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak (of self-inflicted causes) and the 43 people who lost their lives in the Russian jetliner crash. Among those on board was Yaroslavl coach Brad McCrimmon, former defenseman for the Flyers. 14. Bucks County Courier-Times- Something to cheer for Wayne Fish PHILADELPHIA — It wasn't exactly the way they draw it up on the board, but the Flyers showed they can win more ways than one.

After beating Stanley Cup champ Boston in a tight-checking affair last Thursday, the Flyers came back on Wednesday against Vancouver, the other Cup finalist, and demonstrated they can also succeed when things open up. After watching the Canucks come back from two goals down on three different occasions, the Flyers used a goal by Andrej Meszaros at 4:40 of the third to break a 4-4 tie and come away with a 5-4 win in the home opener at the Wells Fargo Center. "We found a way to win and maybe it wasn't the prettiest of wins,'' James van Riemsdyk said. "But we found a way. I think it's a good sign (to be able to keep up with high-tempo teams); but we have to keep getting better.'' Goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov picked up the win for the Flyers, who upped their record to 3-0. The Flyers had to kill off the four power plays in the final 14 minutes to preserve the win. "I think we like that we were able to kill that many penalties in the third period,'' Bryzgalov said. "I don't know why we got in trouble (with penalties), maybe we stopped moving.'' In all, the Flyers had to weather Vancouver's 17-shot storm in the third period. Added captain Chris Pronger: "Five power plays (overall) in the third period is going to give them momentum. They obviously have the players that can work it around. It's tough when you have that many penalties in one period.'' Power-play goals factored into the Philadelphia win, too, with Claude Giroux and Pronger scoring on the man advantage in the first period. The Flyers took leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 but the Canucks wouldn't give up. Giroux opened the scoring with his third goal in as many games. Pronger's shot off the endboards came straight to Giroux's stick for an easy flip past Roberto Luongo at 7:14 of the first. Pronger made it 2-0 at 12:12. With Wayne Simmonds battling defenseman Dan Hamhuis in front, Pronger's long blast found its way inside the right post. Vancouver got one back at 16:35 when Mikael Samuelsson scored off a rebound on a power play. But van Riemsdyk restored the two-goal lead again at 17:48 when Luongo failed to control the rebound of Giroux's shot. In the second, Henrik Sedin connected off a scramble in front of Bryzgalov to make it 3-2 at 6:41. Jakub Voracek answered for the Flyers, finishing off a perfect feed from rookie

Sean Couturier at 8:32. The Canucks drew close again at 15:31 with Chris Higgins scoring from close range. In the third, the Canucks pulled even on a goal by Daniel Sedin at 3:39 during a power play created by van Riemsdyk's unsportsmanlike penalty. "I shouldn't have put myself in that situation,'' JVR said. "I'm glad we still won the game because that was a dumb, dumb penalty. I have to keep my mouth shut from now on. What did I say? We won't get into that but it was a misunderstanding, it was misinterpreted.'' Short shots The Flyers had 27 blocked shots, the most since a 31-shot block effort against Montreal last Jan. 25. Kimmo Timonen led the way with seven, followed by Max Talbot with five and Giroux with four. ... Rookie Sean Couturier spent 7:28 of his 17-plus minutes on the penalty kill, including some precious shorthanded minutes in the closing stages of the game. ... Jody Shelley served the third game of his five-game suspension. Giroux expressed satisfaction that the Flyers have been able to get past the two Stanley Cup finalists in the first week. "When we saw the schedule come out, we knew it was going to be a pretty good test for us,'' Giroux said. "But we still have to get better. The hockey now isn't what you're going to see at the end of the year.'' 15. Camden Courier- Post-The Flyers played Russian roulette Wednesday night and lived to tell about it. Randy Miller Again and again, they avoided turning their home opener into a suicide. They’re relieved, but not overjoyed coming out on top against as worthy a challenger as there is in hockey. This 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks, the Flyers’ third in a row to start the season, was a survival in which they held on for their dear lives. “It’s definitely not an ideal win,” winger James van Riemsdyk said. The Flyers looked like they were trying to give the game away in the third period when they were up a goal and taking one penalty after another against a team with one of the game’s most lethal power plays. The Flyers were called for five penalties to Vancouver’s none in the final 20 minutes — van Riemsdyk for unsportsmanlike conduct, Zac Rinaldo for roughing, Jaromir Jagr for hooking, Jake Voracek for boarding, Chris Pronger for interference.

Somehow, they still won. Daniel Sedin cashed in on the first to tie the game for Vancouver 4-4, but the Flyers killed off four in a row after defenseman Andrej Meszaros scored the game-winner 4:40 into the third. “At the end of the day, you won the game, but one of the biggest things we can take out of this is we learned a lot from it,” said Pronger, who put the Flyers on top 2-0 with a first-period goal. “We had a lot of power plays in the first, they had a lot in the third and we kind of gave them some momentum in the second when we should have been putting the foot on their throat. It’s a learning experience, but a good one because we won.” The Flyers should have realized that they needed to be extra careful in the third because they had five of seven power plays in the first two periods, including the game’s first four. “It’s good we won the game, because now we can go back and look at all the power plays and all the penalty kills and take a look at it and show things and teach,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “I think that’s a positive coming from that. It’s always easier when you win a game to go back and look at it and make corrections. I think there’s still things that we can do better, but certainly we don’t want or need to go to the box that much.” There were positives: Flyers top-line center Claude Giroux had three points to match the Canucks’ great Sedin twins, including a first-period goal that gave him three in three games. And the Flyers showed resiliency after blowing a 4-2 lead. “We’re not going to sit here and tell you we’re going to be perfect,” Pronger said. “We gotta learn from our mistakes, all the little things that we talk over and over again.” Meszaros scored the game-winner early in the third barely a minute after Daniel Sedin had tied it for Vancouver. Danny Briere, surprisingly scoreless for the season through two games, set up the game-winner with a rush that was vintage Briere. 16. Camden Courier- Post- Couturier ready to bunk with Briere for Thursday Randy Miller PHILADELPHIA — Sean Couturier has spent the last month living out of a Jersey hotel room with fellow Flyers rookie Matt Read. If everything goes according to his plan, the 18-year-old French Canadian center will be packing up his things soon and moving to Haddonfield to live with Danny Briere and his three boys. Claude Giroux lived with the Brieres last season, but now has a place for himself.

“Danny offered me to stay at his place and I’ll probably go there for awhile,” said Couturier, who contributed to the Flyers’ 5-4 win over Vancouver on Wednesday night by setting up Jakub Voracek’s second-period goal for his first NHL point in his third game. “I’m told I can stay there all year.” There is a catch, but it sure is looking like Couturier, the eighth overall pick in the 2011 draft, won’t be heading back to juniors before playing 10 NHL games so that the Flyers can avoid triggering the first of three years on his Entry Level contract. The Flyers, in fact, made a minor trade before Wednesday’s home opener that could benefit Couturier. By dealing 5-foot-8 minor-league right winger Stefan Legein and a 2012 sixth-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Kings for future considerations, the Flyers now are one below the limit of 50 contracts. Couturier doesn’t count against the roster until playing his 12th game. “I’m just enjoying myself,” Couturier said. “It’s great so far. I love it.” Couturier played so well during the preseason and early in the regular season that it’s unlikely he’s going anywhere other than moving in with the Brieres. Although not scoring in the Flyers’ first two games, road wins in Boston and New Jersey, Couturier was impressive centering a line with Read and Scott Hartnell and stood out killing penalties. “Defensively, I think he’s done a good job for us,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “He’s a guy that we use in a lot of situations for different purposes. He’s a left-handed centerman, one of our top penalty killers, a guy who was out there with Max [Talbot] on a regular basis.” Laviolette is expecting Couturier, a big scorer in juniors, to generate some offense, as he did on Wednesday with a nice pass that resulted in a goal. “He plays with a couple of good players and they can be successful offensively,” Laviolette said. “Other teams will probably target Briere’s line or Giroux’s line, so there could be some matchups maybe where they can find some offense with his line. He is a talented guy. Right now I think it’s important that he keeps playing hard and doing what he’s doing.”

Legein, 22, had been acquired in an October 2009 trade with Columbus and has yet to appear in an NHL game. He had been on the Adirondack Phantoms roster this season, but didn’t play in their first game. He had 5 goals and 17 points in 41 AHL games last season. 17.NHL.com- Flyers make it three straight with win over CanucksThursday, Adam Kimelman The Philadelphia Flyers started the last week beating the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, and started this week by beating the other team that played for the Cup last spring. Andrej Meszaros snapped a tie game early in the third period to lead the Flyers to their third straight win to open the season, 5-4 against the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday at Wells Fargo Center. Claude Giroux had a goal and 2 assists, Chris Pronger had a goal and an assist, and James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek also had goals for the Flyers. Most telling, however, was the fact that 10 different Flyers landed on the score sheet. "I think it says we've got great depth," said forward Wayne Simmonds, who didn't score but provided the screen that allowed Pronger's first-period power play goal to get past Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo. "We're a four-line team. Whatever line you put on the ice is going to create offense and be strong defensively as well. That's great going forward." Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Mikael Samuelsson each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, and Chris Higgins also had a goal for the Canucks, who play tomorrow in Detroit, the third stop on their current four-game road trip. Daniel Sedin's power-play goal at 3:39 of the third had tied the game, but just 61 seconds later, Meszaros scored the game-winner. Danny Briere carried the puck into the Vancouver zone, and deked to create space for himself to find a trailing Meszaros, who was steaming into the offensive zone. Meszaros skated into the left circle and ripped a shot that beat Roberto Luongo over his glove at 4:40. The Canucks had three power plays following Meszaros' goal, but couldn't beat Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who finished with 36 saves on 40 shots. The Canucks finished 2-for-7 with the man-advantage. "Two goals is pretty good in a game, but still we got to step up when we need it the most and that's late in the game, so that's our responsibility and we didn't do that," said Daniel Sedin. "We had enough chances to score but we got to put it in."

The Flyers gave the Canucks five power plays in the third period, a disturbing number when playing against a team with the firepower Vancouver can throw on the ice. "Five power plays in the third is going to give them a lot of momentum," said Pronger, who played a team-high 23:41, including 7:39 shorthanded. "They've got the players that can work it around. Bryz made some good stops, we had some blocks in front of him. … You look at their power play, it's scary-good out there. They've all been together, some of them since birth. That gives them pretty good knowledge." That knowledge showed early in the third, when Daniel Sedin tied the game. Alexander Edler pinched in and drew the defense to him, which allowed him to zip a pass across to Sedin, who fired a shot over a lunging Bryzgalov at 3:39 of the third. "I think there were some good tests in the game tonight," said Flyers coach Peter Laviolette. "Penalty kill was one, our resiliency was another. Protecting the lead through the third. Bryz got a lot heavier workload tonight then he had the previous two games and he answered. There were some positives to take from that." The game started all positive as the Flyers scored a pair of goals and drew four Vancouver penalties in the first 12:12 of the game. Giroux opened the scoring with his third of the season, thanks to a fortuitous bounce off the boards behind the Vancouver net. With Philadelphia skating on their second power play of the first, Pronger fired a shot from center ice that took a crazy carom off the boards behind Luongo. Giroux grabbed the loose puck, took two strides all alone and beat the Canucks' goaltender high over his glove at 7:14 of the period. "It hit the partition and came back right in the front and it caught me by surprise, obviously," said Luongo, who stopped 22 of 27 shots and is looking for his first win of the season after tying for the League lead with 38 last season. "I wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do with it and I was caught leaning." Pronger made it 2-0 about five minutes later with another long shot on the power play, launching a one-timer from the center of the blue line that Luongo never saw zip past his glove thanks to Simmonds' screen. Vancouver cut the lead in half on their only power play of the first period. The Canucks moved the puck smartly around the zone, with Henrik Sedin firing a shot from the NHL shield on NHL Face-Off logo. Bryzgalov made the save, but left a big rebound that Samuelsson backhanded into the net at 16:35. Just 1:13 later, van Riemsdyk put the Flyers back on top by two. Alexandre Burrows fumbled a pass from Luongo under pressure, and it rolled along the wall to Giroux. He fired a shot that Luongo stopped with the top of his pads, but he couldn't corral the puck as he fell forward. Van Riemsdyk skated in from the side of the net, took the puck away from him and lifted it over the fallen netminder for his first of the season to make it 3-1.

Henrik Sedin made it a one-goal game when he converted off a Flyers defensive-zone turnover. Burrows kept the play alive in the Philadelphia end, and as Bryzgalov scrambled to stop him, the puck bounced to Sedin, who scored under the crossbar at 6:41 to make it 3-2. It was the first even-strength goal allowed by the Flyers this season, who entered having allowed one goal in their first two games, and allowing the third-fewest shots on goal per game (21.5). The 40 shots the Flyers allowed were almost as many as they let in through the first two games of the season (43). "That's a really high skilled team, the Vancouver Canucks," said Bryzgalov. "They have very good, skilled players, and when they get in on the power plays, especially when there are a lot, they create some chances and they have some chances to score goals. … I think we're lucky that we were able to kill that many penalties in the third period." Voracek made it 4-2 when he scored his second of the season off a pass from Sean Couturier. The assist was the first NHL point for the eighth pick of the 2011 Entry Draft. The Canucks again cut the Philadelphia lead to one when Higgins scored at 15:31 of the second. Burrows had the puck behind the Flyers' net and as he slid to the right, four Flyers went with him, leaving Higgins alone for a tap-in from the left post. While the players might not have considered it the prettiest win, but adding two points against the Presidents' Trophy winners and Western Conference champions, following their opening-night defeat of the Stanley Cup champions, is a nice boost for the confidence. "We played some good teams here," said van Riemsdyk, "but it's still early. … t's good to get off to this start. We want to be in this position, but we can't stay complacent. We have to keep getting better. … Just because we got off to a decent start so far we can't get complacent. We've got to push the envelope." 18. NHL.com- Kings acquire Legein from FlyersWednesday, NHL.com STAFF CommentPrintThe Los Angeles Kings have acquired forward Stefan Legein and a sixth-round draft choice in 2012 from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for future considerations. Legein, who turns 24 next month, is a 5-foot-10, 185-pound right wing from Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Last season he played for Adirondack (AHL) and Greenville (ECHL). He has played in the AHL over the last four years both with Adirondack and Syracuse. In 2009-10, he recorded 24 goals.

Legein was originally selected by Columbus in the second-round (No. 37) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He attended training camp with the Flyers this year and was assigned to Adirondack on Sept. 25. Legein is expected to report to the Kings' AHL affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs. 19. ESPN.com- Andrej Meszaros' goal extends Flyers' perfect start Associated Press PHILADELPHIA -- One Flyers fan in a lively tailgate scene shouted what a demoralized Philadelphia fan base was feeling. "Come on Flyers, you're our only hope!" When it comes to championships in a city defined this month by heartbreak, he might be right. Claude Giroux, Chris Pronger and the rest of the Flyers gave their fans a needed morale boost, remaining undefeated with a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night. Andrej Meszaros scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek also scored for the Flyers in their home opener. Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov won his third straight start and 10 players had a point against the defending Western Conference champions. The Flyers have already beaten both teams in last year's Stanley Cup finals and the early returns on a major offseason overhaul are promising. "The guys seem to fit into what we want to play right away and that's huge," van Riemsdyk said. The Flyers have been a needed bright spot in a city suffering through a major sports hangover because of the Phillies' unexpected elimination in the NL division series and the Eagles' miserable 1-4 start that has coach Andy Reid under fire. "It kind of disappoints me to see the Eagles getting written off. There's still a lot of season left to play," van Riemsdyk said. "But it's nice to have a full building and have the passion of the fans come out even more. But at the same time, those teams still mean a lot to the city." The Flyers delivered in front of nearly 20,000 fans badly needing a reason to cheer. All the new faces shone in their first real game. Voracek, Jaromir Jagr and first-round draft pick Sean Couturier all had points.

The most valuable offseason acquisition was Bryzgalov, who gives the Flyers their first star No. 1 goalie in ages. Bryzgalov stopped all 20 shots Saturday in a 3-0 win over New Jersey for Philadelphia's first shutout since April 6, 2010. He was shaky against Vancouver, as 3-1 and 4-2 leads were sliced to one before he allowed Daniel Sedin to beat him for the tying goal early in the third. Meszaros wasted no time putting the Flyers back in front, this time for good, rushing the ice and snapping a wrister past Roberto Luongo 59 seconds later for the winner. Bryzgalov held off the Canucks and stopped 36 shots. Mikael Samuelsson, Henrik Sedin and Chris Higgins scored goals for Vancouver. "We want to be playing our best game right now, we're not happy with the way things are going," Canucks defenseman Kevin Bieksa said. "We are good enough to play a full 60 minutes. We are not doing that. When we do play, you see what happens out there." The fans were ready to go wild and saved their loudest cheers for Pronger, in his first home game as captain, and forward Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds was involved in two preseason dust-ups -- a man threw a banana at him and he had an altercation with Sean Avery -- and the fans showed their appreciation for one of the newest Flyers with a huge ovation. Simmonds and Voracek were involved in two of the biggest trades in recent Flyers history. Voracek was acquired from Columbus in the deal that shipped out perennial 30-goal scorer Jeff Carter and Simmonds was part of the trade that sent former captain Mike Richards to Los Angeles. Richards, furious with the deal at the time, makes a quick return to Philadelphia on Saturday night. Simmonds set a textbook screen in the first period that allowed Pronger to get his first goal of the season. He followed Giroux with a second straight power-play goal and a 2-0 lead. Voracek made it 4-2 in the second when he was set up by the 18-year-old Couturier. The 6-foot-4, 197-pound Couturier impressed during training camp and made the roster. He's expected to last the season in Philadelphia. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren felt he had the luxury of trading Richards and Carter because Giroux and van Riemsdyk were ready for increased responsibilities and could carry a team looking for their first Stanley Cup since 1975.

Luongo, who had 22 saves, failed to cover a rebound late in the first and was sprawled on his chest when van Riemsdyk popped in the puck for a 3-1 lead. Henrik Sedin knocked in a rebound and Higgins scored in the second to cut Philadelphia's lead to 4-3. It wasn't enough and the Flyers improved to 3-0 for the 11th time in team history. "We just need to continue to work on that consistency and make sure night in and night out it's wave after wave," Pronger said. "We want to pound teams and get on the forecheck and skate." Fans were antsy for this game to get going. The Flyers know all eyes are on them with the Phillies and Eagles faltering and the start of the 76ers season uncertain because of the NBA lockout. When an usher was told rain was in the forecast, he said, "the clouds are staying over there this year," a reference to both the Phillies and Eagles stadiums across the street. Game notes The Flyers traded F Stefan Legein and a sixth-round draft pick in 2012 to the Los Angeles Kings for future considerations. Legein was placed on waivers and reported to the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms before the start of the regular season. ... The Flyers are 26-12-6 in home openers. ... The Flyers held a moment of silence for former defenseman Brad McCrimmon, who died in the crash of a chartered Yak-42 jet in western Russia that took the lives of 28 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players. 20. TSN.ca- Flyers remain undefeated after close win over Canucks The Canadian Press PHILADELPHIA - One Flyers fan in a lively tailgate scene shouted what a demoralized Philadelphia fan base was feeling. "Come on Flyers, you're our only hope!" When it comes to championships in a city defined this month by heartbreak, he might be right. Claude Giroux, Chris Pronger and the rest of the Flyers gave their fans a needed morale boost, remaining undefeated with a 5-4 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night. Andrej Meszaros scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek also scored for the Flyers in their home opener. Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov won his third straight start and 10 players had a point against the defending Western Conference champions.

The Flyers have already beat both teams in last year's Stanley Cup finals and the early returns on a major off-season overhaul are promising. "The guys seem to fit into what we want to play right away and that's huge," van Riemsdyk said. The Flyers have been a needed bright spot in a city suffering through a major sports hangover because of the Phillies' unexpected elimination in the NL division series and the Eagles' miserable 1-4 start that has coach Andy Reid under fire. "It kind of disappoints me to see the Eagles getting written off. There's still a lot of season left to play," van Riemsdyk said. "But it's nice to have a full building and have the passion of the fans come out even more. But at the same time, those teams still mean a lot to the city." The Flyers delivered in front of nearly 20,000 fans badly needing a reason to cheer. All the new faces shone in their first real game. Voracek, Jaromir Jagr and first-round draft pick Sean Couturier all had points. The most valuable off-season acquisition was Bryzgalov, who gives the Flyers their first star No. 1 goalie in ages. Bryzgalov stopped all 20 shots Saturday in a 3-0 win over New Jersey for Philadelphia's first shutout since April 6, 2010. He was shaky against Vancouver, as 3-1 and 4-2 leads were sliced to one before he allowed Daniel Sedin to beat him for the tying goal early in the third. Meszaros wasted no time putting the Flyers back in front, this time for good, rushing the ice and snapping a wrister past Roberto Luongo 59 seconds later for the winner. Bryzgalov held off the Canucks and stopped 36 shots. Mikael Samuelsson, Henrik Sedin and Chris Higgins scored goals for Vancouver. "We want to be playing our best game right now, we're not happy with the way things are going," Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa said. "We are good enough to play a full 60 minutes. We are not doing that. When we do play, you see what happens out there." The fans were ready to go wild and saved their loudest cheers for Pronger, in his first home game as captain, and forward Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds was involved in two pre-season dust-ups -- a man threw a banana at him and he had an altercation with Sean Avery -- and the fans showed their appreciation for one of the newest Flyers with a huge ovation. Simmonds and Voracek were involved in two of the biggest trades in recent Flyers history. Voracek was acquired from Columbus in the deal that shipped out perennial 30-goal scorer Jeff Carter and Simmonds was part of the trade that sent former captain Mike Richards to Los Angeles.

Richards, furious with the deal at the time, makes a quick return to Philadelphia on Saturday night. Simmonds set a textbook screen in the first period that allowed Pronger to get his first goal of the season. He followed Giroux with a second straight power-play goal and a 2-0 lead. Voracek made it 4-2 in the second when he was set up by the 18-year-old Couturier. The six-foot-four, 197-pound Couturier impressed during training camp and made the roster. He's expected to last the season in Philadelphia. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren felt he had the luxury of trading Richards and Carter because Giroux and van Riemsdyk were ready for increased responsibilities and could carry a team looking for their first Stanley Cup since 1975. Luongo, who had 22 saves, failed to cover a rebound late in the first and was sprawled on his chest when van Riemsdyk popped in the puck for a 3-1 lead. Henrik Sedin knocked in a rebound and Higgins scored in the second to cut Philadelphia's lead to 4-3. It wasn't enough and the Flyers improved to 3-0 for the 11th time in team history. "We just need to continue to work on that consistency and make sure night in and night out it's wave after wave," Pronger said. "We want to pound teams and get on the forecheck and skate." Fans were antsy for this game to get going. The Flyers know all eyes are on them with the Phillies and Eagles faltering and the start of the 76ers season uncertain because of the NBA lockout. When an usher was told rain was in the forecast, he said, "the clouds are staying over there this year," a reference to both the Phillies and Eagles stadiums across the street. Notes: The Flyers traded F Stefan Lagein and a sixth-round draft pick in 2012 to the Los Angeles Kings for future considerations. Lagein was placed on waivers and reported to the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms before the start of the regular season. ... The Flyers are 26-12-6 in home openers. ... The Flyers held a moment of silence for former defenceman Brad McCrimmon, who died in the crash of a chartered Yak-42 jet in western Russia that took the lives of 28 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players. Vancouver Canucks Articles (FLYERS Last Opponent) 1. The Province- Canucks best at beating themselves in 5-4 loss to Philly Jason Botchford

Flyers' Matt Read, right, controls the puck against Vancouver Canucks' Manny Mancari during the second period at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 12, 2011. Photograph by: Yong Kim, hiladelphia Daily News/MCTPHILADELPHIA — The Canucks proved they do have Henrik Sedin's back. He began the day saying the team is lacking focus. Hours later, his teammates backed him up with a start substandard enough to prove him right. A familiar first period, four penalties in the first 11 minutes, cooked the Canucks Wednesday. Later, head coach Alain Vigneault complained about the calls, saying two were marginal. Not sure it would have mattered. Because the Cancuks weren't just beat by the Flyers in Wednesday's 5-4 loss, they beat themselves. They had a goalie who couldn't make the big stop, a sloppy defence and three forwards whose indifferent play got them benched. "We're our own worst enemy, we know that," Kevin Bieksa said. "If we're not making mistakes, if we're not putting ourselves down, we feel confident we can beat anybody." Now, it's three games into the season and the only thing the Canucks have shown is they are as resilient as they are careless. They took a pounding on the score sheet Wednesday but kept popping back into the game like whack-a-moles. When they're on, they press and force the opposition into penalties. The Flyers took five in the third, a period the Canucks dominated, outshooting Philadelphia 17-7. Bieksa's right, there are times his team looks like it can beat anyone. Most of them are when the Sedins are on the ice. When they're not, there aren't many forwards aside from Cody Hodgson and Chris Higgins looking competent. Unfortunately, the result is the team, which often jumped down opponent's throats early in games last year, is taking 30 minutes to get the cylinders working. Well, not all of the team. It's nearing mid-October and we're still unsure what it takes to get Marco Sturm going. "If it's like this after 10 games, then we can talk about concern," Henrik said. "We played a lot better than we did in the first two (games), but penalties killed us." They've taken nine first period penalties in the first three games. There were moments Wednesday felt like the Canucks were losing 6-1 Wednesday. Yet, there they were tied 4-4 when Daniel Sedin snapped in a power play goal 3:39 into the third to erase what had been a 4-2 Philadelphia lead. But the Canucks couldn't get out of

their way long enough to take the lead. A minute later, they were caught on a brutal line change as Sturm, playing his first shift since being benched mid-second, jumped on the ice and started swimming. Andrei Meszaros scored the winner, and it was the second consecutive Philadelphia goal that went up and over Roberto Luongo's glove hand. "I jumped on and I don't know what happened afterward," Sturm said. Before the game, Henrik said this: "As a group, I don't think we're as focused as we were last year." Giving up a fluke goal to start Wednesday's game didn't help. On Philadelphia's second straight power play, Chris Pronger tried to rim a puck around the end boards. It hit a stanchion behind Luongo, taking a weird hop right to Claude Giroux who scored his third goal of the season, making it 1-0. "We didn't play our best and they took it to us," Henrik said. "That's something we have to realize. That every team is going to be up for the challenge when we come into their buildings and when they come into ours. "That's what happens when you have a successful team." The Canucks response was taking penalties, one for Henrik and one for Alex Burrows, who got called for pushing. They actually called it cross-checking, but it was more about reputation than anything else. "We got into penalty trouble early and two of those calls, in my mind, were very very marginal at the best," Vigneault said. "They got a bounce on their first goal and with such skill level that they have they're going to create chances. "But we battled hard, worked smart and got a lot of opportunity." They also had a lot of changes. Sturm was benched for a stretch and so was Aaron Volpatti. Manny Malhotra, whose struggles should be considered worrisome because of the injury he's coming back from, was replaced by Hodgson on third line. Hodgson looked good doing it, too. "At one point, I made a change where Cody ended up with (Chris) Higgins and Jannik Hansen and it was (Alex Burrows) there (with him) for a while and they scored," Vigneault said. "It seemed to give them a spark so I made a couple more little changes and we made a push for it." 2. The Province- 'I would have liked to make a big save,' Luongo says as Canucks fall to Philly Jason Botchford

Philadelphia Flyers center Claude Giroux scores a goal past Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo. Photograph by: Tim Shaffer, ReutersPHILADELPHIA — Roberto Luongo is getting better with accountability, but not October. Two games in, he's let his team down more often than he's made big saves. On Wednesday, his teammates tried to keep him afloat, worming their way back from a 4-2 deficit. But two shifts after the game was finally tied at four, Luongo couldn't get the angle or his glove on an Andrej Meszaros wrist shot from the top of the circle. "It was a tough one to give up," Luongo said. "We battled back to tie it up and they scored one right away. He made a good shot, I guess. I was out challenging, and he beat me over the glove. "I would have liked to make a big save there." It's true, Luongo is more prone to getting beat by shots like Meszaros's since he's moved back in the crease. Those are going to beat him sometimes. The timing on Wednesday couldn't have been worse. But it wasn't just how he finished the game he didn't like. It was how he started it, too. Luongo gave up four goals in the first 30 minutes, picking up where he left off against Pittsburgh in the season opener. "If anything, I need a little bit better effort from myself to start the game and keep these guys in it," he said. "They had a big first period and they fed off it." It's not, however, like this isn't expected. If Luongo were ever to get off to a great start in October it would be a bigger story than the poor ones, which have become routine. But he suggested the team would need him more this year. In this lineup, Ryan Kesler's absence is a void bigger than the hole in BC Place's roof. The team is lacking speed and a real secondary scoring threat. In the preseason, Luongo said Vancouver would likely have to win games 3-2 and 2-1. But they can't win like that with goaltending like Wednesday's. In segments, Luongo looks on. His first seven minutes were good against the Flyers. Overall, he made a couple sensational stops, like the skate save on Jaromir Jagr. And you can hardly blame him for the start. Claude Giroux got a gift of a goal when a puck took a ridiculous hop off the glass behind the net. Luongo was caught leaning the wrong way by the time Giroux picked up the puck and put the Flyers up a 1-0. "They had a couple lucky bounces there, but I have to make a save," Luongo acknowledged.

In all, Luongo made 22 saves Wednesday on 27 shots, dragging his save percentage in two games to .855. Many expect this will mean Cory Schneider will spell him in Detroit Thursday. The second goal was a Chris Pronger special, a blast on the power play which got by a screened Luongo. But third goal was the real dagger to the gut. The Canucks had cut an early 2-0 lead in half with a Mikael Samuelsson power play goal 16:35 into the first. Just 1:13 later, Luongo played a puck from behind the net right to Giroux on the point. Giroux lobbed the puck at Luongo, who lunged forward trying to smother it. The goalie ended up on his belly as James Van Riemsdyk shoveled the puck into the net. Could Luongo have used some help? No doubt. Kevin Bieksa completely lost Van Riemsdyk in front of the net. Could Luongo have used some help on the fourth goal? No doubt. Andrew Alberts and Keith Ballard were a disaster trying to catch up to the puck as Sean Couturier set up Jakub Voracek. The shot ended up going over Luongo's blocker but Ballard was screening him as it went in. So, as Luongo continues his mea culpa tour through October, remember he's not the only one who needs to be better. 3. Vancouver Sun- Canucks fall flat against Flyers in 5-4 loss Iain MacIntyre The puck goes past the Philadelphia Flyers' Danny Briere (48) against Vancouver Canucks' goalie Roberto Luongo and Keith Ballard, right, during the second period at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday. Photograph by: Yong Kim, MCTPHILADELPHIA – Don't ask the Canucks about last season. They don't like talking about yesterday, let alone last year or anytime before that. They don't want to hear about their perplexing history of starting seasons slowly and dawdling through October and playing themselves into a standings deficit before shooting off with the fireworks around Halloween. See, their focus is all about right now. They're not worried about the past. They may be stuck in it, eye deep, but pretend it's not there. In their first three games of this National Hockey League season, the Canucks have played reasonably well for, in order, about 30 minutes, 25 minutes and 40 minutes. That adds up to about 1 1/2 games, which nicely explains why they've collected only three of six points so far.

Wednesday, in an entertaining but sloppy 5-4 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Canucks took four penalties in the first 11 minutes, fell behind on a bad bounce at 7:14 and trailed for all but 61 seconds of the 52:46 that followed. Vancouver is 1-1-1 and on its way, seemingly, to another murky October. Last season – I hate to use that phrase but the Canucks play the Detroit Red Wings Thursday and are probably too busy to read the paper – the team started 3-3-2. The season before, the Canucks began 3-5. In 2008, they started 4-5 a year after going 5-8 out of the gate. And in 2006, coach Alain Vigneault's first season in charge, the Canucks exceeded their Halloween limit on mediocrity and were 8-10-1 before taking off. And in four of those five seasons, the Canucks eclipsed 100 points and charged into the Stanley Cup playoffs as the Northwest Division champion. They'll probably do the same thing this season, too. But why haven't they learned from the past? Why aren't they ready to burst from the starting blocks? Even for one game? “If it's like this after 10 games, then we can talk about a concern,” Canuck captain Henrik Sedin said. “Again tonight, we played a lot better than we did early in the first two games, but penalties killed us. If you're in the penalty box eight minutes in the first 12 or 13 minutes, it's tough to get a good start. “We've got a group in here that battles really hard, but you're not going to win too many games if you're down two or three goals in this league. We didn't play our best and they really took it to us. That's something we've got to realize; every team is going to be up for the challenge when we come into their building. That's what happens when you have a successful team.” Bad bounces, bad penalties and bad goaltending excluded, the Canucks were better longer against the Flyers than they were against the Columbus Blue Jackets or Pittsburgh Penguins. But even during their “good” spell Wednesday, only a minute after Daniel Sedin's power play goal lifted the Canucks from an 0-2 deficit and into a 4-4 tie, they were remarkably careless. They gave up a platinum scoring chance that former Vancouver Giant junior Andrej Meszaros buried into the top corner for the Flyers' winning goal at 4:40 of the third period. Cody Hodgson and Chris Higgins dashed off on a line change as the Flyers attacked, leaving Meszaros free to speed onto Danny Briere's pass in the middle of the Canuck zone and fire over goalie Roberto Luongo's catching glove. On the previous two Philadelphia goals, the Canucks stood around their zone and left Jakub Voracek open in the slot; and Luongo gave away the puck and a soft rebound as James van Riemsdyk scored.

The Canucks were good offensively – Higgins, Henrik Sedin and Mikael Samuelsson also scored – and might have won had their power play been able to score on more than one of the five chances the Flyers bestowed them in the third period. But the team defence looks disorganized and the penalty killing, which tied for second last season at 85.6 per cent, yielded two more goals Sunday and is now at 69.2 per cent. “Five on five, we're strong,” defenceman Kevin Bieksa said. “With the man-advantage, we're strong. It's just mistakes right now. We can score goals. Right now, we just have to keep them out of our net a little better. We have to do a little better job in our zone.” Asked why the Canucks have been so poor at the start of games the first seven days, Bieksa said: “I don't know. We had problems at times last year with the same thing, getting off to slow starts. I don't know what it is. “We don't want to wait around. We want to be playing our best game right now. We're not happy with the way things are going.” As Henrik said, it has been only a sloppy week, not a bad month. And the team has a terrific chance to build some momentum with a win against the Red Wings. But, especially at forward, there appears to be a growing gulf between the Canucks who are playing well (the Sedin brothers, Alex Burrows) and those who aren't (Marco Sturm, Jannik Hansen, Manny Malhotra). “Defensively, obviously it's still early in the year and we have to talk more and sort things out in our zone,” Burrows said. “We can't give up those Grade-A scoring chances. We're seeing some good things, but we're still making a few mistakes here and there. It's a long season and it's a process and we're going to get better every day.” Maybe this month. NHL Articles 1. TSN.ca- McKenzie: Realignment ignites passionate debate Bob McKenzie Do you want to start a fire? Just rub two sticks together and mention realignment to an NHL fan, owner or general manager. It's guaranteed spontaneous combustion.

No issue in hockey -- not fighting or head shots or suspensions or rules of the game or labor strife -- can ignite passionate debate the way the mere mention of realignment can. Last night was a prime example. On Twitter, I put out a note that more and more NHL governors are believing that the Detroit Red Wings will be moving next season to the Eastern Conference, specifically the Southeast Division, and that the Winnipeg Jets could conceivably take the Wings' spot in the Central Division and that is both a plausible and possible scenario when realignment is done for real at a board of governors' meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif., in early December. The response was immediate and overwhelming. Within minutes, there were hundreds and hundreds of responses, mostly panning the notion of the Wings leaving the Western Conference for the geographical inappropriate Southeast Division -- though there were a lot of Journey lyrics about "south Detroit" -- but there was also a torrent of opinion on exactly how realignment should be done. That's the thing about realignment. Every fan thinks he has it figured out. Every team in the NHL is much the same. The only problem is they're almost never on the same page. And in order to get a realignment passed at a board meeting, any new configuration requires a two-thirds majority -- or 20 of 30 votes. So any like-minded group of 11 clubs can put the kaibosh on any plan. In terms of what could happen at the December board meeting, pretty much everything is on the table. But the general sense is that the realignment plan that has the best chance of getting the two-thirds majority is the plan that causes the least amount of upheavel. Well, if that's the case, then it doesn't get any easier than the following configuration, which we'll call Plan A, for now: Put the Winnipeg Jets in the Central Division and move the Nashville Predators from the Central to Winnipeg's spot in the Southeast. Boom. Done. Nashville, even though it's in the Central Time zone, is geographically aligned with Carolina, Florida, Tampa and Washington better than any team currently in the Western Conference. While the ideal spot for Winnipeg would be in a division with Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, that would necessitate a chain reaction of other moves and Plan A is based on nice and easy. Besides, Winnipeg is so damn happy to be in the NHL, its not about to complain about being in the Central. But Plan A doesn't take into account the Mike Ilitch Factor. Ilitch, of course, is the venerable owner of the Detroit Red Wings and a couple of weeks ago he went public, suggesting that NHL commissioner Bettman years ago promised, when Detroit was put in the Western Conference, that if in the future a Western Conference team had to relocate to the Eastern side it would be the Red Wings.

Whether any "promise" was made -- technically, that's not a promise the commissioner can make since it is ultimately the board of governors that decides on realignment and it's the one issue where they're difficult to wrangle -- is almost immaterial. Ilitch believes the Red Wings are "owed" a return to the Eastern Conference and he'd like to collect on that IOU. A quick history lesson: Detroit and Toronto were the two Eastern Time zone teams placed in the Western Conference when the league went to the conference format in 1993-94. But in 1998-99, Toronto was moved to the East, leaving Detoit alone. In 2000-01, Columbus entered the NHL and became Detroit's only other Eastern Time zone partner in the West. The Wings' position is as follows: They've been a good solider for the NHL, being the marquee team of the Western Conference at their own expense in terms of local television exposure, or lack thereof, and hellacious travel, especially in the playoffs. Outside of games with Columbus, Detroit's road games within the division start at 8 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. Eastern when playing St. Louis, Chicago or Nashville. And when they're playing other Western Conference teams in Mountain or Pacific Time zones, the games don't start on local Detroit TV until 9 p.m. or even 10:30 p.m. and that is taking a toll on the younger generation of Wing fans who can't stay up that late to watch the team. As for the travel issue, every Western Conference team has it rough, but Detroit quite often finds itself travelling to the Pacific Time zone for the first two rounds of the playoffs -- Phoenix and San Jose was last year's exactor but Anaheim usually figures in there, too. And for a team that usually goes deep into the playoffs, the Wings contend they are at a severe travel and competitive disadvantage in the playoffs with that much travel in the first two or three rounds of the playoffs. That's why Ilitch is campaigning hard to get the Wings the get-out-of-the-West card. And more than a few governors are lining up behind Ilitch and agreeing that the Red Wings -- an original six franchise which in many respects is the model NHL franchise that has been carrying the league's water in the Western Conference for more than a decade -- are the team that deserves to move East. So on that basis, here's Plan B: Put the Red Wings in the Southeast Division -- as geographically inapproriate as it may appear -- and put Winnipeg in the Central Division. But that scenario would leave many unhappy teams in the Western Conference. Let us count them: Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville, Dallas. And those are just the teams that want a move of their own. Other teams, such as Chicago or St. Louis, would be sorry to see a division rival and drawing card like the Red Wings exit the West. Columbus would like to see Plan C. That is, Columbus moves to the Southeast Division and Winnipeg takes the Blue Jackets' spot in the Central.

The Blue Jackets feel like they are dying on the vine in the Western Conference and all the same arguments about local TV exposure apply to them too. Columbus would argue that Detroit is a rock solid franchise economically that will fare well no matter where it's situated but that the Blue Jackets are really still trying to establish themselves in their market and a move East would help in that regard. Mind you, Nashville might argue Plan D is the way to go. Oh, wait, that's not Plan D. We're back to Plan A, Nashville to the Southeast, Winnipeg to the Central. It's actually Minnesota that has Plan D. It would really like to be in the Central Division, so the Wild would suggest Winnipeg should go to the Northwest with Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Colorado. Minnesota being in the Central Division would give them more natural geographic rivals from the Midwest such as Chicago and St. Louis. Whichever team leaves the Central to go east -- Detroit or Columbus or Nashville -- doesn't much matter to the Wild. They would like more games against American teams, more games in the Central time zone as opposed to the Mountain or Pacific zones. But the problem with Plan D is that as much as Winnipeg would like to be with Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, the NHL is not going to put a lone American franchise, in this case Colorado, in a division with four Canadian franchises. It's just not going to happen. And yes, you are correct to note that if Winnipeg goes into the Central it would be alongside four American teams, but Winnipeg is fine with that. New kid on the block isn't going to complain. Many have argued Plan E is the way to go, but you're going to have to put your thinking cap on to absorb this one because it's starting to get a little complicated. Take any one of Detroit, Nashville or Columbus to the Southeast, put Winnipeg in the Northwest Division, move Colorado into the Pacific Division, and move Dallas to the Central Division. The owner in Dallas loves this one. Well, if Dallas actually had an owner right now, he would love this one because the Stars are adamant they're the ones dying on the vine in the Pacific, playing division rivals on the road who are two times zones away. They look at Detroit's time zone misfortune and go pffffft, that's nothing, try going to the Pacific Coast for EVERY divisional road game. Dallas, because it doesn't have an active owner at this time, feels as though its concerns aren't heard when compared to Mr. Ilitch's lobbying efforts on behalf of the mighty Red Wings. Colorado wouldn't have any significant issues moving into the all-American Pacific Division. But the problem with this Plan E is the same as Plan D. That is, one American franchise, in this case Minnesota, would be in a Northwest Division with four Canadian teams. Not going to happen. Okay, if you are thirsty or hungry or need a bathroom break, you may want to do that now, because we've still got a long way to go here. (Pause)

Welcome back. We're now up to Plan F. How about we take any one of Detroit, Nashville or Columbus to the Southeast, doesn't really matter at this point for the purpose of this argument. Let's put Winnipeg in the Northwest Division, but keep Minnesota, Colorado, Calgary and Edmonton there, and move Vancouver to the Pacific Division. Vancouver in the Pacific makes a lot of sense because, well, every team in the Pacific would actually be on Pacific time. That would allow Dallas to move from the Pacific to the Central. Dallas would love that. Minnesota may not love it but they lose Vancouver, which is good, and gain Winnipeg, so it's not horrible for the Wild. But the Canucks would scream at losing natural rivalries with Edmonton and Calgary, and Edmonton and Calgary wouldn't like that either. Vancouver would not be happy as the only Canadian team in the otherwise all-American Pacific Division. Don't like the chances of Plan E working for that reason. The common thread in all of these plans -- from A right through to E -- is that they are predicated on the current format of three five-team divisions in each of two conferences. How about a little outside-the-box thinking and overhaul the whole thing? That would be Plan G and one that some think Bettman himself would like to see or at least be given serious consideration. The conference format would be scrapped for four divisions built strictly on time zones/geography. There would be two eight-team divisions and two seven-team divisions. No way to get around the imbalance in a 30-team league, unless there's a Plan Gor three 10-team divisions or conferences and if that's Plan H, for argument's sake, no one in the NHL is seriously considering it at this point. So back to Plan G. One eight-team division would consist of only Pacific and Mountain Time zone teams -- Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose, Phoenix, Colorado, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary. One seven-team divison would consist of all Central Time zone teams and one Eastern team -- Dallas, Nashville, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, Winnipeg and one of Columbus or Detroit Another seven-team division would include one of Detroit or Columbus plus Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Boston. The other eight-team division would be the three New York area teams -- Rangers, Islanders and Devils -- plus Philadelphia, Washington, Carolina, Tampa and Florida. Honestly, when you look at those four divisions, from a practical viewpoint, there isn't any single franchise that would have a significant beef with the time zones or the

geography in the regular season. It would address the needs and desires of Dallas, Nashville, Detroit, Minnesota, Columbus, Winnipeg, take your pick. But things start to get complicated once we get into the Plan G playoffs. In other words, we would have to move away from the Conference playoff format and return to the days of first two rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs being contested entirely within the division. And there's the rub on Plan G. Plan G works like a dream in the regular season. Every team in the new four-division NHL would play every other team in the league in a home-and-home regular season series for a total of 58 games (2 x 29). The remaining 24 games (assuming the 82-game schedule remains intact) would be against only division rivals, so travel would be minimized and geographic and time zone rivalries would be enhanced. But in order to do that in the regular season, there is no choice but to scrap the 1 vs. 8 and so on Conference playoff format. Because there would be so much empahsis on divisional play, the point totals in one division could not be compared equal to another division, so the playoffs would absolutely have to go back to divisional matchups (1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3) for the first two rounds of the playoffs. And there's one more post-season problem with Plan G. Four teams would miss the playoffs in two divisons, only three teams would miss the playoffs in the other two. The teams in the eight-team division do not like those odds. It's not fair. There are teams virulently opposed to it on that basis alone. One of the clubs that really likes Plan G suggests there can be an cross-over element that if the fifth place team in one division has more points than the fourth-place team in another division, there could be a one-game sudden-death play-in between for the right to the final playoff spot, but you can see where this is going. It's starting to get really messy, with a whole bunch of new wrinkles. Going to a four-division system that makes so much geographic sense in the regular season means doing away with the current NHL playoff format and there are a lot of NHL teams asking themselves why the league would be turning things upside down when the current post-season system works very well. Plan G involves radical change and a lot of NHL teams -- say, every team in the Eastern Conference for starters, and that's 15, four more than is necessary to kaibosh any realignment vote -- don't have a burning desire for big changes to appease the few clubs -- Detroit, Columbus, Dallas and perhaps Minnesota -- that would like to improve their lot in realignment life.

So away we go, let's start all over again and look at Plan A or B, which are predicated on nice and easy, if there is such a thing. All of which gives you some idea of how contentious and troublesome realignment is for the NHL and what dynamics will be at work when the governors convene in Pebble Beach in December. 2.TSN.ca- Stars acquire forward Nystrom from Wild TSN.ca Staff The Dallas Stars have acquired winger Eric Nystrom from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for future considerations. Nystrom cleared re-entry waivers on Wednesday and was eligible to re-join the Wild, but the return would have put the club over the 23-player roster limit. With the trade, the Stars will be paying him the full amount rather than if they claimed him off waivers from the Wild. The Stars needed Nystrom's full salary in order to make the NHL's salary cap floor. "Eric is a hard-working forward who kills penalties and will help with the depth of our current roster," said Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk in a statement. Nystrom, 28, skated in 286 NHL games, scoring 23 goals and 28 assists for 51 points. The native of Syosset, New York, skated in every game last season for the Wild and registered four goals and eight assists. The Stars also assigned forward Tomas Vincour to the AHL's Texas Stars on Wednesday.