4-23 Daily Clips

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Philadelphia Flyers Daily Clips – April 23, 2011

FLYERS Headlines

1. Philadelphia Inquirer – Comeback Backfires2. Philadelphia Inquirer – The Flyers have three goalies, but no answers

3. Philadelphia Inquirer – Flyers Notes: Flyers face off for Game 5 shorthanded4. Philadelphia Inquirer – Van Riemsdyk was one of the bright spots5. Philadelphia Daily News – Flyers' rally not enough, as Sabres win Game 5 in OT6. Philadelphia Daily News – Sabres look to have edge, as Flyers are pushed to brink 7. Philadelphia Daily News – Flyers' hopes now seem to rest on goalie roulette wheel8. Philadelphia Daily News – With that, one final spin.9. Philadelphia Daily News – Reports: Ex-Flyer Brashear joins Canadian MMA outfit10. Philadelphia Daily News – Broad Street Bully: An undeniably headstrong passion11. CSNPhilly.com – Flyers' rally falls short in wild Game 5 OT defeat12. CSNPhilly.com – Leighton's return can't quite seal Flyers' comeback 13. CSNPhilly.com – Flyers notes: Sabres' Ennis finishes what he starts

14. CSNPhilly.com – Source: Pronger and Carter done for rest of series15. Delaware County Times – Flyers rally from early 3-0 deficit, but fall in OT16. Delaware County Times – McCaffery: Get pushed around? Not these Flyers17. Delaware County Times – Boucher The Only Answer For Game 618. Bucks County Courier-Times – OT loss sends Flyers to the brink 19. Bucks County Courier-Times – Commentary: Flyers playing goalie guessing game20. Camden Courier-Post – Flyers pushed to brink 21. Camden Courier-Post – Laviolette faces tough decision22. Camden Courier-Post – With 3 out, Flyers make odd move23. NHL.com – Sabres stun Flyers 4-3 in OT24. NHL.com – Kids come through for Sabres

25. NHL.com – Versteeg showing why Flyers wanted him26. ESPN.com – Sabres write own script in Game 5 win27. ESPN.com – More drama for Flyers' goaltending carousel28. TSN.ca – McKenzie – Flyers have shown they can still come back 29. Associated Press – Tyler Ennis scores in overtime, gives Sabres 4-3 victory over Flyers and 3-2 series lead30. Toronto Sun – Sabres take control with OT win

Buffalo Sabres Headlines

1. Buffalo News – Ennis nets overtime winner for Sabres2. Buffalo News – Sabres survive despite being short-handed3. Buffalo News – Silence is golden for Sabres on the road4. Buffalo News – Sabres vs. Flyers, Game Five / Breaking down the game5. Buffalo News – 30 seconds of playoff joy6. Olean Times Herald – Ennis' two goals key Sabres' wild overtime win7. Olean Times Herald – Sabres’ Boyes trying to recapture post trade form8. Olean Times Herald – Laviolette laughs off Ruff’s comments

Adirondack Phantoms Headlines



1. Glens Falls Post-Star – Leighton, Rinaldo play in Flyers loss

NHL Headlines

1. ESPN.com – Coyotes sign Brett Hextall to contract2. ESPN.com – Isles to keep Evgeni Nabokov's rights

3. TSN.ca – Coyotes clean out lockers unsure if they'll return to desert4. TSN.ca – Coyotes netminder Bryzgalov says he won't go to Winnipeg

FLYERS Articles

1. Philadelphia Inquirer – Comeback Backfires

Sam Carchidi

Cue the Alanis Morissette song.Isn't it ironic . . .

The Flyers, who were atop the Eastern Conference standings for most of the regular season, are one loss away from a first-round playoff exit.

The Buffalo Sabres, who late in the season looked like they weren't going to qualify for the playoffs, outlasted the Flyers in overtime Friday night, 4-3, and need one morevictory to move to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Isn't it ironic . . .

Tyler Ennis scored on a rebound with 14 minutes, 29 seconds left in overtime to giveBuffalo the pulsating win at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Sabres have a lead of three games to two in the series, which resumes Sundayafternoon in Buffalo.

The OT goal, scored on a juicy rebound allowed by Michael Leighton, wiped out agallant comeback by the Flyers, who overcame an early 3-0 deficit to tie the score at 3-3.

Leighton relieved Brian Boucher (three goals on 11 shots) in the first period and stoppedall 18 shots he faced heading into the overtime.

Ennis' goal was his second of the night.

"It's a tough situation. The D-man has to go up and block the puck, and he puts a littlescreen on me," Leighton said of the winning goal. "I just caught it [the sight of the puck]through him. The D has to do that, and it was just a lucky bounce right on the guy's tape."



The Flyers controlled play after Boucher went to the bench, and Leighton was not testedmuch.

"We kept the puck away from our end the first little while, and I didn't get many shots,"

said Leighton, who made his first NHL appearance in nearly four months. He began the playoffs as the Flyers' third-string goalie.

Danny Briere, converting a Mike Richards pass, lifted a backhander past Sabres goalieRyan Miller to tie the score at 3-3 with 16:24 remaining in the third period. Briere had been stopped by Miller in a similar third-period situation in Buffalo's 1-0 win onWednesday.

The Flyers outshot the Sabres, 39-32. All told, the Flyers attempted 87 shots, compared toBuffalo's 50. But the Sabres blocked 29 shots, while the Flyers blocked eight.

"The chances were lopsided Briere said. "It was a tough start. A 3-0 lead [for Buffalo],and the shots were 10-2. It's something we can improve on. . . . We can't hang our heads.We were in a worse position last year. This is group of guys who can do it."

The Flyers overcame a deficit of three games to none to stun the Bruins in last year'sconference semifinals.

"If you ask any guy on this team, I don't think there's one guy who thinks we're not goingto come back," said center Claude Giroux, who had a pair of assists. "Since when did westart doing something normal around here?"

Added Giroux: "We just have to get ticked off and go win that game in Buffalo and come back here in front of our fans."

Buffalo, which lost talented forward Jason Pominville to an undisclosed first-periodinjury, can take comfort in this stat: The Flyers are 2-14 when trailing a best-of-sevenseries, three games to two.

Goals by James van Riemsdyk (eight shots) and Andrej Meszaros 1:45 apart trimmedBuffalo's three-goal lead to 3-2 midway through the second period.

Thomas Vanek and rookie defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani also scored for Buffalo inthe first period.

2. Philadelphia Inquirer – The Flyers have three goalies, but no answers

Phil Sheridan



Overtime.

Michael Leighton in that same net.

You were expecting a different outcome?

Tyler Ennis' game-winning goal didn't end the Flyers' Stanley Cup dreams, not the wayPatrick Kane's did in Game 6 of the Finals last June. But it might as well have. TheFlyers could conceivably win two games in a row to beat Buffalo in this series, but theyare not winning the Cup this year.

Not with Leighton and Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky as their goalies.

This time, everyone saw the winning goal. There was no confusion, no wondering howthe puck slipped between Leighton and the goalpost. This time, he allowed a longrebound and gave the onrushing Ennis half the net to shoot at.

He hit it, and a truly compelling Flyers comeback was wasted. Kind of like last year,right?

Before Ennis ended it, this game had a chance to be a rallying point for another real runat the Cup. Down, 3-0, thanks to a truly abominable performance by Boucher, the Flyers played as good a period of hockey as they have all year. James van Riemsdyk scored.Andrej Meszaros scored. The Flyers had all the momentum and a full period to tie thegame or win it.

They tied it, thanks to sneaky Danny Briere. They had a terrific chance to win it, thanksto a Buffalo penalty with a little more than two minutes left in regulation. But the Flyers' power play, one of the real culprits as they face first-round elimination, proved ineptagain - unless aimless passing around the zone is the point of the exercise.

They whiffed on that chance, but still had a fresh sheet for overtime. One goal woulddecide whether this was a victory to draw from throughout the rest of the tournament for the Flyers or the kind of demoralizing loss that is tough to rebound from.

There was Leighton, who played fine without being severely tested in two-plus periods of relief, standing in front of that same net. If he didn't see Kane's ghost, didn't hear theechoes of that disbelieving groan from last June, he isn't human.

This was just Leighton's second NHL game since that awful, unforgettable night. This isthe trap the Flyers built for themselves by failing to make a significant move at that position last summer or at the trade deadline.

Coach Peter Laviolette set the dominoes falling by making Bobrovsky disappear after hisrough outing in Game 2. The Russian rookie allowed three goals in just seven shots and



was yanked in favor of Boucher. Laviolette could have gone back to Bobrovsky, givingthe youngster a vote of confidence and a chance to live up to it.

But the coach went with Boucher in Buffalo. Bobrovsky was made persona non grata - nolocker in the HSBC Arena dressing room. He hasn't dressed for a game since.

Look at the other team. Ryan Miller is obviously a more proven goaltender than anyonethe Flyers have run out there in the past decade or so. But he allowed three goals in thatsame first period of Game 2 that was Bobrovsky's undoing. Bobrovsky allowed two inless than two minutes Friday night, then blew that 3-0 lead entirely.

Miller hasn't been benched. He has responded with shutouts in two of his five starts.

We'll never know what Bobrovsky might have done if Laviolette had stuck with him. Itwas a tough decision with a lot of repercussions for this series and beyond. He's coachinga team of veterans who want to win now, and he decided the steadier, more mature

Boucher was the answer.And for two games, he was. Boucher won Game 3 and lost Game 4, 1-0. He is a solidgoalie, most of the time.

Then this: Less than four minutes into the pivot game of this series, playing in front of asellout home crowd, Boucher allowed two pucks shot from impossible angles to bounceoff him and into the net. Visions of Kane's Cup winner and Roman Cechmanek at hismost mystifying danced in your head.

In with Leighton. Out with any realistic chance to win the Stanley Cup.

It really is incredible. This franchise's history with playoff goaltending is so bad, andsuch a sore point with the people who run the team, a meltdown such as this should beimpossible. But here we are: three losses, three goalies, elimination looming as sure asSunday follows Saturday.

What does Laviolette do now? It almost doesn't matter who starts in goal for Game 6 onEaster Sunday. Certainly there is no good choice.

Bobrovsky has had the crease yanked out from under him. Boucher is coming off thesingle worst performance in a very long time. Leighton is haunted. Laviolette might aswell pick a name out of a hat.

Just a hunch, but the Sabres might well go with Miller.

3. Philadelphia Inquirer – Flyers Notes: Flyers face off for Game 5 shorthanded



Sam Carchidi

The Flyers were severely shorthanded in Game 5 against Buffalo on Friday night, and ithad nothing to do with an excess of penalties.

The team was missing stars Chris Pronger and Jeff Carter, along with Andreas Nodl, adepth winger. All were sidelined with injuries.

Pronger, the heart of the Flyers' defense, took slapshots Friday morning for the first timesince he suffered a broken hand about five weeks ago.

But the hand didn't pass the test.

Hours later, the Flyers decided their team leader would sit out Game 5 at the Wells FargoCenter.

A source close to the situation denied a report that Pronger is out for the rest of the series.Carter, a 6-foot-3, 200-pounder who had a team-high 36 goals in the regular season,injured his right knee Wednesday in a first-period collision with the Sabres' 6-8, 227- pound Tyler Myers.

Nodl was injured in Game 2.

"We prepare the same way, no matter who's in the lineup," coach Peter Laviolette said before the game. "We don't change everything because [someone] comes out."

Rinaldo's chanceCarter's injury turned into an opportunity for tough-guy Zac Rinaldo, a Phantoms call-upwho skated on the fourth line Friday with Blair Betts and Darroll Powe.

Rinaldo, 20, wasn't promoted for his offense. He had three goals and 331 penalty minuteswith Adirondack this season.

On his first shift, Rinaldo got his stick in the face of Buffalo's Chris Butler.

Laviolette used Rinaldo over Jody Shelley, who has recovered from orbital-bone surgery.

The Flyers reunited their Alphabet Soup Line: Nik Zherdev ("Z") was with James vanRiemsdyk ("JVR") and Claude Giroux ("G").

Stats dept.The team that scored first won each of the first four games in the series. Buffalo scored 2minutes and 24 seconds into Game 5.



Dating back to 2006, NHL teams that have scored first had a 308-147 record (.677)heading into Friday.

Miller's featWith his 1-0 win Wednesday, Ryan Miller became the third goalie in Buffalo's history to

post two shutouts in one series, joining Bob Sauve (1983 vs. Montreal) and Dominik Hasek (1994 vs. New Jersey).

BreakawaysIn their eight previous series with Buffalo, the Flyers have not lost in a round in whichthey led the Sabres in games at any point. . . . The Flyers entered Friday with a 33-35record in playoff overtime games. . . . This is the first time Buffalo has won a pair of 1-0decisions in the same series. No NHL team had done that since Calgary in a 2004 seriesagainst Detroit. The only team to win three 1-0 games in a series: Toronto in a 1994conference quarterfinals against Chicago. . . . If there is a Game 7, it will be Tuesday atthe Wells Fargo Center at 7:30 p.m. . . . Entering Friday, Buffalo had taken 30 penalties

in the series, tying Anaheim for the most in this year's NHL playoffs.

4. Philadelphia Inquirer – Van Riemsdyk was one of the bright spots

Ray Parrillo

The Wells Fargo Center was deathly quiet. It was as if the energy had seeped throughcracks in the walls and dissipated in the South Philly air.

There was a good reason for this. Two good reasons, in fact, and both were early Buffalogoals from near impossible angles that got through the leg pads of Flyers goalie BrianBoucher. With barely enough time to clear their throats, the orange-draped crowd satstunned, and you could almost see the Flyers' shoulders sag.

This wasn't the way the Flyers had promised to start Game 5 of what has evolved into afascinating first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, especially the day after Sabres coachLindy Ruff had called them whiners. But nothing drains the confidence from a team asefficiently as poor goaltending.

So the Flyers were feeling their way through the dark when James van Riemsdyk switched on the lights and began a comeback from a 3-0 deficit with a goal midwaythrough the second period.

"I thought JVR had a strong performance for us tonight," Flyers coach Peter Laviolettesaid. "I thought he was strong and is really using his speed, size, and the puck seems to besticking with him. He is getting lots of offensive opportunities."



This series has been a coming out party for the second-year winger, one long answer for those who were beginning to wonder when he'd blend the size and speed the Flyers foundso beguiling they made him the second overall pick in the draft. Sure, he'll be only 22 in acouple of weeks, and this is only his second full season, but patience runs thin in the NHL.

Van Riemsdyk has probably been the Flyers' most consistent forward in this series. Hisskates seem turbo-charged, his GPS is homed in on the net, and he'd never displayed sucha physical nature on such a consistent basis.

On the goal that ended goalie Ryan Miller's shutout streak of four and a half periods, vanRiemsdyk took a carom and used his long reach to get the puck behind Miller, who'dcome out to challenge him.

Suddenly, the game belonged to the Flyers, who got subsequent goals from AndrejMeszaros and Danny Briere to send the game into overtime.

Van Riemsdyk, who had a team-high eight shots and attempted a remarkable 13, tried tospare everyone the OT, but Miller refused to budge as van Riemsdyk jammed at the puck in the crease.

The Flyers also carried the play during most of the 5 minutes, 31 seconds of overtime play, and van Riemsdyk was in the middle of much of it. But Michael Leighton, whoreplaced Boucher in the first period to become the third goalie the Flyers have employedin the series, allowed a fat rebound, and Tyler Ennis pounced on it to give the Sabres a 4-3 win and a lead of three games to two in the best-of-seven series that returns to BuffaloSunday for Game 6.

The last time van Riemsdyk pulled the Flyers out of such a deep funk was late in the first period of the memorable Game 7 in Boston last spring. The Flyers had rubbed out adeficit of three games to none to tie the second-round series but seemed on the cusp of getting blown out when they fell behind 3-0. Laviolette called a timeout and basicallytold the Flyers they'd win if they scored the next goal. Van Riemsdyk scored, and theFlyers went on to fulfill Laviolette's prophecy.

5. Philadelphia Daily News – Flyers' rally not enough, as Sabres win Game 5 in OT

Frank Seravalli

CLAUDE GIROUX shrugged.

"Since when did we start doing things normal here?" Giroux asked.

Easy is not a word in the Flyers' version of Merriam-Webster.



Last night, the Flyers' first 15 minutes of Game 5 went like this: three goals-against, twodifferent goaltenders in net, and play so ugly that three times Flyers players ran into eachother, skating around like chickens without heads.

And that was just the beginning.

A three-goal deficit? That's nothing. Even against Ryan Miller, a goaltender who shut outthe Flyers twice in the first four games of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal serieswith the Sabres.

Last night, the Flyers beat that three-goal hole the hard way. Their way. But in the end, itwas the Sabres who had the last laugh as Tyler Ennis gave Buffalo a 4-3 win just 5minutes, 1 seconds into overtime to scribble over what would have been a storybook ending for the Flyers.

Instead of four unanswered goals, Ennis sent the Flyers hurtling back to Buffalo for

tomorrow afternoon's Game 6 in elimination mode. But it's not like the the Flyers haven'tfaced that before.

The Flyers were 4-1 in the Stanley Cup playoffs last season with their season hanging inthe balance.

"We never do anything according to the plan," Giroux said. "I don't think there's one guyon this team that wants to be down 3-2 now. Guys just battled. But we've got to find away to play like that for 60 minutes."

The odds are daunting. In each of the Flyers' first eight playoff matchups with Buffalo,the winner of Game 5 has gone on to win the series.

"I feel good about our game," Danny Briere said. "We deserved to win once again, thechances were lopsided. We had a bad start, spotting them a three-goal lead and 10 shotson net."

Briere probably didn't emphasize the Flyers' bad start enough, even though most of the blame belongs in Brian Boucher's corner and not the rest of the Flyers team. Both of Buffalo's first two goals were low-percentage, must-have-in-the-playoffs shots. Boucher bobbled one puck from the corner on a shot by Ennis and the other was banked in from behind by Thomas Vanek.

Still, that wasn't what got him yanked. Marc-Andre Gragnani made that decision easy for Peter Laviolette when he connected on a power-play point shot just 15:36 into the game.

No matter how well Boucher played in Games 2, 3 and 4, it was hard to justify leavinghim in net. It was the first time in Boucher's 11-year NHL career he was yanked from a playoff game as the starter.



"I put my team behind the eight ball," Boucher said. "I take full responsibility for it. Itwas on me. Those are goals that can't go in."

Even though they did, the Flyers didn't panic. One by one, they got them back withLeighton in net at the Wells Fargo Center for the first time since Patrick Kane ended the

Flyers' parade hopes last June 9 in overtime of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Leighton had played in only one game all season for the Flyers.

"As soon as I went in, we kind of kept the puck away from me for the first little while andI think that was important for me to get back in the rhythm," Leighton said. "Besides that,we dominated the rest of the second and third period. We played a great game."

When Ennis scored in overtime, it snapped Leighton's personal shutout streak of 3:04:31,spanning back to his last three starts in the AHL before being recalled by the Flyers onApril 5 through re-entry waivers.

In reality, Leighton entered with the most razor-thin of margins for error. One more goal-against likely would have put the Flyers out of their misery, even though Leighton didn'tsee it that way.

"There's not really that much pressure on me," Leighton said. "It's 3-0. If they score onme, it's 4-0. It's kind of out of hand. We played a good game and battled back."

The way the Flyers battled back rekindled the magic they created last spring, jarringimages of their 3-0 Game 7 and 3-0 series comeback in that epic second-round seriesagainst Boston.

Slowly but surely, the Flyers tilted the ice in the second period before James vanRiemsdyk and Andrej Meszaros tallied goals within 1:45 of each other to cut Buffalo'slead to 3-2.

It was a seemingly foregone conclusion that it wouldn't take the Flyers long to knot thescore in the third period, as Briere did with his third goal of the series just 3:36 into the period.

Over the final two periods and overtime, the Flyers outshot Buffalo by a total of 30-19. Inall, the Flyers fired 87 pucks toward Miller: 39 on net, 29 blocked, 19 that missed the net.And at the other end, Leighton stood tall for the Flyers when it mattered most.

"We dominated that second and third period," Leighton said, "so we know we can beatthis team."

The same as it was in Games 1 and 4 of this series, it is the result that matters most. TheFlyers are 6-10 all-time in a Game 6 when trailing, 3-2, and they're only 2-14 in thoseseries. The Flyers have been there before.



"We can't hang our heads," Briere said. "We were in a worse position than that last year.If there's a group of guys that can do it, I believe in this group here."

Slap shots

The NHL announced yesterday that the start time for a potential Game 7 at the WellsFargo Center on Tuesday night would be 7:30 . . . Chris Pronger did not return to theFlyers' lineup as expected, missing his 21st consecutive game with a right hand injury.He did skate in the morning skate. The Flyers have officially kept his status as "day-to-day" . . . In place of Jeff Carter, who missed the game with a lower-body injury, theFlyers dressed tough guy Zac Rinaldo instead of Ben Holmstrom. It was Rinaldo's NHLdebut; he played just 1:56 . . . Buffalo lost Jason Pominville in the first period because of injury . . . Every Buffalo skater blocked at least one shot except Patrick Kaleta. *

6. Philadelphia Daily News – Sabres look to have edge, as Flyers are pushed to brink

Sam Donnellon

MAYBE THIS IS the real Eastern Conference final. Maybe we are watching the two bestteams crash, crush and steal momentum from each other like crafty thieves.

For the fifth game in a row, this series between the young Buffalo Sabres and their been-there-done-that Olympic-caliber goaltender and a been-there-done-that Flyers team stillholding auditions for the job of playoff goaltender came down to a single play, a singleshot, one extra piece of execution. A failed clear in overtime, a slap shot that eluded two blockers, a juicy rebound, and the Flyers now find their margin of error, finally, down tonothing.

The Buffalo Sabres took Game 5 of this series last night, winning, 4-3, in overtime whenMichael Leighton's save of Mike Weber's slapshot bounced onto the stick of Tyler Ennis,who wristed into an empty net at 5 minutes, 31 seconds of the extra period.

Yes, Michael Leighton. Last seen looking behind him for Patrick Sharp's Cup-winninggoal in overtime, Leighton's relief appearance after Brian Boucher coughed up three earlygoals was shaping up to be another game-changing move by Peter Laviolette, another chapter in the goalie series that now rivals Rocky for sequels. Bob, Bouch and now, onceagain, Leights.

Where have you gone, Roman Cechmanek?

Until the ending, Leighton had stopped 20 Buffalo shots, extending a streak of beingunscored upon that began in his final two shutout victories for Adirondack, the Flyers'



farm team. Most of last night's saves were routine, but if Boucher had been able to makethe routine on this night, the Flyers would be heading to Buffalo up, three games to two,instead of the reverse.

That said, there are plenty of reasons not to give up hope. There is this team's resilient

history from a year ago. There is the possibility that Chris Pronger will return to thelineup. And there is their unqualified success as a road team this season, which bore outin the two games played in Buffalo this week.

There is also the nagging sense, which will hound the summer with one more loss, thatthe Flyers are capable of playing better than this, while the Sabres are not.

"We feel that we've had control of the puck in every game for the most part, and we'veout-chanced them most of the games," Danny Briere said. "I don't know, outplayed is astrong word, but we believe that we are the better team, but there's not much time left to prove that."

The Sabres have the advantage because they have played this game of desperation longer than the Flyers, are leaning on recent habits not older ones.

Think about it. The Flyers seemed to have first place in the conference locked up in mid-February. The Sabres seemed to have a high draft pick locked up. Then the Sabres got anew owner, found some chemistry, and their goalie found his form. The Sabres finished16-4-4, had the best record in the conference since Feb. 23.

The Flyers, of course, did not. They meandered to the finish, surrendering the first seed inthat final week, promising all the while that the playoffs would amp them up again, curethem of their bad habits.

The Sabres said this series would prove they were not the team of their first 4 months.The Flyers said this series would prove they were not the team of the last 2 months.

Five games in, each team has proved its point.

Emphatically.

This has not been a series defined by loud fans and big-screen videos or bad calls byreferees. It has been a series defined by opportunities, both cashed in and missed, and theFlyers have been out-urgency-ed in just a few too many of them.

You can argue that was not the case last night. It's an argument that holds up for abouttwo periods of play, or roughly the amount of time it took your team to claw out of thehole that two awful goals and one on the power play put them in. The Flyers took over the game from the last half of the first period until they tied it at 3:36 of the third, but thatsense of desperation dissipated in the minutes that followed. You could even argue that



Buffalo had better chances until the Flyers made one final push in regulation, a push thatearned them their fifth power play of the night, their 26th overall.

You know what happened. Another 0-fer. The Flyers are doing all the right things, theyare just a tad slow, a step short, missing that little extra urgency that turns a rebound into

a messy goal.

A series based on razor's edge advantages cannot afford that. It also cannot afford twogoals to be scored from below the goal line. Especially when the goaltender on the other side nearly stole a gold medal two winters ago, and has arguably stolen a couple of gamesin this series as well.

So back to Buffalo we go, for an Easter Sunday matinee that means everything to your team. Who will start in goal? Who knows. Will Pronger be able to play? Who knows.The only certainty is the margin of error is finally down to zero, after 2 months of thisclose hockey that has tainted, and threatens to destroy, what was once a monumental

season."We can't hang our heads," said Briere. "We were in a worse position than that last year,so if there is a group of guys who can do it, I believe in this group of guys here." *

7. Philadelphia Daily News – Flyers' hopes now seem to rest on goalie roulette wheel

Rich Hofmann

'I'D VERY MUCH like to redeem myself," Brian Boucher said. Reporters surroundedhim on one side of the Flyers' dressing room. On the other side, Michael Leighton wasengulfed by his own group of cameras and notepads.

Boucher. Leighton. And Sergei Bobrovsky; remember him. For Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, the roulette wheel spins again.

Boucher allowed three goals last night and was yanked in the first period. And so it goesfor the Flyers: Bobrovsky, Boucher, Leighton, bingo! But the story is more complicatedthan that. Because the Flyers were down by 3-0 and then tied the game at 3-3, only tolose it, 4-3, in overtime on a rebound goal by Tyler Ennis. The Buffalo Sabres now leadthis opening-round playoff series, three games to two.

The first elimination game is tomorrow in Buffalo. Everyone expects Leighton to be thestarter, and he should be at this point.

One final spin of the wheel, then. One final spin.

"I take full responsibility for it," Boucher said. "I put my team behind the eight ball. Itwas on me. Those are goals that can't go in. I take full responsibility."



The start of Game 5 was an abject disaster for the Flyers. Boucher allowed goals byEnnis and Thomas Vanek that were from angles so sharp as to be Euclidianimpossibilities. They were the worst two goals allowed by the Flyers in the playoffs since. . .

Oh, hey, there's Leighton.

"I was anticipating a pass and he shot it on net," Boucher said of the first goal. "Thesecond one, aside from maybe coming out and playing the puck before that, I don't knowif I could have done anything differently. I mean, the guy banked it off me . . .

"It was my responsibility tonight. I take ownership in that. To put your team in a hole likethat, when it's an important game, they didn't deserve that. I'd like to get a second crack atit. We'll see what happens."

Actually, Boucher was not pulled until after the third goal, this one by Marc-AndreGragnani, with 4:24 left in the first period. In the tunnel, he threw his helmet andviolently attacked a nearby rack of sticks. But that damage was minor compared withwhat he had committed on the ice.

There was no reason to see it coming. Boucher had never had anything approaching thatkind of a game in the playoffs before, not ever. There was no hint in earlier series games,either. His best game, in fact, might have been his 1-0 defeat in Game 4 on Wednesdaynight in Buffalo.

But this was a disaster, even worse the Game 2 disaster authored by Bobrovsky. Anyway,Boucher was out, and now Leighton was in. Leighton had been pulled twice in theStanley Cup final last season, and then he hurt his back, and then he spent the season inthe minors, and now he's back in net for a team that prefers either to balance upon thehigh wire or to wrap it around its own neck.

Which is where it is now.

"Obviously, the guys battled hard to get back in the game," Boucher said. "It was rightthere. If we play the way we did when it was 3-0, we should be in good shape. But we'redown, 3-2, and the urgency has to be at the highest level.

"I don't know if there is any momentum. I know [coach Peter Laviolette] does not believein that. He believes that whoever is more desperate will get the edge."

At 3-0, the Flyers were pretty desperate, and Leighton had a pretty good seat for the kindof comeback they now seem to attempt every year. Last season, it was the historic Game7 in the second round against Boston - and the first goal came from James van Riemsdyk.This time, it was van Riemsdyk again, on a rebound he was able to corral with his longreach and slip it around Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller.



That was at 8:12 of the second period. Less than 2 minutes later, the score was 3-2,courtesy of an Andrej Meszaros blast from about 50 feet. The Wells Fargo Center hadgotten back into it on the van Riemsdyk goal - and, really, in the minutes leading up to itas the Flyers pressured the Buffalo net. The building was convulsing after Meszaros'

goal. And when Danny Briere scored on a pass from Mike Richards from behind the netin the third period, it was 3-3 and it was bedlam.

The Sabres, to their credit, pulled themselves together and had the better of the play for the next few minutes. But Leighton was good, and the game settled into the kind of nervous affair so familiar to anyone who has ever watched playoff hockey.

As time ticked down, everyone knew the next mistake might lose it, or the next bouncemight win it. Ennis got the bounce, a big one off the pad of Leighton after a point shot byBuffalo's Mike Weber.

And now Boucher can only wonder. "I'll bounce back," he said. "I'm a pretty resilient person. I'm upset right now - I'm not going to lie to you. It was a big game, and I wantedto have a good start and I didn't have that. I'm disappointed."

8. Philadelphia Daily News – With that, one final spin.

Sam Donnellon

Score: Sabres 4, Flyers 3, OT

How it happened: Buffalo scored two goals from below the goal line in the first 4minutes, bouncing each off Brian Boucher, who was replaced by Michael Leighton after a third first-period goal, this one on the power play. The Flyers dominated the second period with 15 shots to Buffalo's 5, scoring two goals in the span of 1:45 before tying itearly in the third.

Tyler Ennis scored off a rebound 5:31 into overtime.

Heroes: Danny Briere extracted his revenge on Ryan Miller, who stopped him cold from just about the same spot to the goaltender's left in Game 4. This time, Briere got Miller moving and lifted it past him. A nod to Michael Leighton, who pitched in beautifully inrelief.

Goats: The Flyers actually had the better of the early going before Boucher allowed twosoft goals. That quieted the sellout Wells Fargo Center crowd and made the whole first period seem like the home team was skating with clouded visors. Missed passes, pucksshooting past sticks in the crease - but the Flyers kept at it.



Did you notice: Kris Versteeg's work on the Flyers' second and third goals? AndrejMeszaros got the second goal on a blistering shot that Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller never saw. He never saw it because of the dogged work done by Versteeg in front of thenet, swirling around and gaining position around two larger Sabres defensemen. Versteegwas also the reason the puck was in Buffalo's zone as he passed the puck to himself and

around a Sabre as he crossed the blueline. Versteeg crashed hard to keep a dumped puck in the zone on the third goal, allowing Mike Richards to get to it and feed Briere in frontof the net.

Powerless: The Flyers were 0-for-6 on the power play and are now 2-for-27 in this series.

Game 6 suspense: Whom do you start tomorrow? Do you return to Brian Boucher, who played so well in Games 2 and 3? Leighton, who (nearly) saved your bacon last night? Or do you return to Game 1 starter Sergei Bobrovsky, who allowed just one goal before hisdisastrous start in Game 2?

Up next: Game 6 is tomorrow afternoon at HSBC Arena (3 p.m., NBC)

9. Philadelphia Daily News – Reports: Ex-Flyer Brashear joins Canadian MMA

outfit

Kerith Gabriel

It appears there was a method to Donald Brashear's years of bedlam after all.

According to Yahoo Sports and other websites, the former Flyers goon joined the worldof mixed martial arts, signing with Canadian-based fight outfit Ringside.

Brashear, 39, who is playing semi-pro hockey in Quebec, has yet to file for his license tofight in the province. According to multiple reports, the delay could be from Brashear'scurrent legal battle involving a postgame fight on March 25, for which he was chargedwith assault and suspended for five games.

Brashear, whose website says he trained with Philly boxing legend Joe Frazier, couldapply and be licensed in time to appear on Ringside's June 4 fight card in Quebec City.

The left winger played 15-plus NHL seasons, including four with the Flyers. He rackedup an astounding 2,634 penalty minutes - 648 in orange-and-black. He had 85 goals and125 assists, and also played for Montreal, Vancouver, Washington and the Rangers.

While Brashear is known as a bruiser, during his time in Vancouver he was on the wrongend of a scuffle in February 2000 with Boston's Marty McSorley. Brashear won a fight, but McSorley later retaliated with a slash. Brashear fell and hit his head on the ice andlater suffered a seizure. McSorley received an indefinite suspension from the NHL and



was charged with assault with a weapon. McSorley was found guilty and placed on 18months' probation, and never played another NHL game.

10. Philadelphia Daily News – Broad Street Bully: An undeniably headstrong

passion

Dan Geringer

AFTER WATCHING last night's crushing 4-3 overtime loss bring them to the brink of playoff elimination, Broad Street Bully wondered if our Flyers can summon the die-hardheart of superfan Eric Rothstein, and keep the Stanley Cup dream alive.So who is this Eric Rothstein?

His head is shaved, except for an orange-and-black mohawk that his go-to stylist, Gloriaat Shape Ups on Grant Avenue near Bustleton, touches up weekly before the orange

fades into yellow. He has a Flyers logo tattooed on each side of his mohawk, giving hishead the look of an old-school Flyers helmet.

So even in the sea of orange-and-black-clad fans at last night's game, Rothstein, 41, whohad his glaring game face on even during pregame warm-ups, stood out as the hardestcore die-hard at the Wells Fargo Center.

Born in South Philly, raised in Olney and now living in Northeast Philadelphia, Rothsteintold Broad Street Bully, "I base my whole life around the Flyers." He said that his dad,Paul, who passed away on July 13, "never missed a game. If the Flyers were on, that'swhat we were watching. I watched both championship parades sitting on his shoulders.He raised me right."

As he said this, Rothstein's face - as tough as any Flyers' enforcer's - suddenly softened."This season hasn't really been the same without him," Rothstein said. "People tell mehe's always here with me at the game. I don't know. Maybe he is."

Rothstein said that his mom, Rochelle, and sister, Lisa, were always big Flyers fans, butthat lately he's had a falling out with Lisa because her son developed an admiration for Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby. "I can't live with that," said Rothstein, whohates all things Penguin with a passion. "Not in my family."

Unlike even the most fervent fans, Rothstein wears his Flyers heart on his sleeve - and onhis head - all year-round. Even in the heat of summer, he's rocking Flyers gear. "I don'town anything else," he said. "If I have to get dressed up, I have a Flyers tie."

For years, he's never missed a home game - arranging his work hours at Slack's HoagieShack in Port Richmond around the Flyers schedule, arriving hours early, standing nextto the Flyers' bench to watch warmups, then taking his seat in Section 213, Row 15 for the game. If the Flyers lose, he said, "I get what I call 'Post Flyers Loss Depression.' "



"You don't want to be around me after a loss," he said. "I need Prozac."

But he never stops believing in them, never stops dreaming, never stops wearing Flyersgear.

Then the hardest core die-hard that Broad Street Bully ever met walked off into the SouthPhilly night, hoping that the Flyers can win tomorrow night to force Game 7 on Tuesday.

11. CSNPhilly.com – Flyers' rally falls short in wild Game 5 OT defeat

Tim Panaccio

Brian Boucher stared into the cameras, grimaced and spoke.

“I take full responsibility for it,” said the Flyers goalie. “I put my team behind the eight ball. It was on me. Those are goals that can’t go in.” Two brutal goals in less than four minutes. Then a third on the power play. Eleven shotsoverall. Boucher’s shocking failure in Game 5 wasn’t the sole reason the Flyers lost 4-3 inovertime to the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center.

Yet, it was a significant one as the Sabres can close out this Eastern Conferencequarterfinal series with a victory in Game 6 Easter Sunday in Buffalo. The Sabres nowlead the series, 3-2. Tyler Ennis’ rebound won it in overtime. As bad as Boucher was, the Flyers mounted an incredible comeback to tie the game andforce overtime.

The reality is, what lost the game was the Flyers’ power play, which has been an abjectfailure since mid-November. The PP went 0 for 5 and is now 2 of 26 in the series. All three Buffalo wins have been by one goal. A goal the power play should have provided. And hasn’t. “You could say that about any game,” Laviolette said of his power play. “It’s a fair assessment.” The power play actually robbed the Flyers of momentum at critical junctures even duringtheir comeback.



Flyers center Danny Briere said no one thinks this team is dead in the water right now. “I feel good about our game; we deserved to win that,” he said. “The chances werelopsided. Bad start spotting them a three-goal lead and 10-2 on shots on net. Just a badstart.

“But the rest of the way, we can’t hang our heads. We were in worst position last year.So, if there is a group of guys who can do it, I believe in this group of guys here.” The incredible, second-period comeback saw the Flyers dominate every aspect of play but one – the power play, where they went scoreless on three tries. Even strength,however, they scored twice while outshooting the Sabres, 15-5. Buffalo clung to a 3-2 lead to start the third period. At 3:36 Kris Versteeg, hustling allnight, chased down a puck behind the net, fell on his fanny and trapped it for MikeRichards.

Richards quickly threw it across from behind the net to Briere, who jammed it inside theright post off his backhand to tie the game. The comeback was complete. The Flyers had a power play in the final minutes of regulation, had a couple chances, thenafter Peter Laviolette called his timeout, over passed the puck without a shot. Ryan Miller was very sharp in overtime with four saves. “Ryan was good once again,” Briere said. “He made the difference tonight with theamount of chances we had. Late on the power play he made a good save on JVR [Jamesvan Riemsdyk].” If only the start had been better for Boucher. The first goal from Ennis came at the end of a long shift with a gassed Nikolay Zherdevdogging Ennis down the left side off transition, then tiring as Ennis eluded him and firedfrom a bad angle off Boucher’s pad and through his five-hole at 2:24. Almost 90 seconds later, Thomas Vanek, working from below the goal line to Boucher’sleft, fired a shot that somehow squeezed through the right post at 3:51, making it 2-0amid dropped jaws from the stunned, sellout crowd. “The second one, I don’t know if I could have done anything differently, the guy bankedit off of me,” Boucher said. “The first one was me anticipating a pass and he threw it onnet.” Incredibly, the Flyers talked about using the energy within the building to give themsome juice at the start …



“I take full responsibility for it,” Boucher said. Boucher, who has been so strong in this series, looked so awful. “It’s a tough job,” Briere said. “Sometimes you can be a hero quick, but it can go the

other way pretty quick as well. That’s the nature of the position. You’ve got to giveLeights [Michael Leighton] a lot of credit.

“He played one game in the NHL this year, and to come back with the way he played inthe last 50, 55 minutes, we’ll see what happens over the next couple of days.” The third goal was a 4-on-3 Sabres’ power play with Richards in the box for slashing inwhat should have been a continuation of 4-on-4, but that’s another story. The Sabres dazzled the Flyers with back-and-forth passing before Marc-Andre Gragnaniroofed a shot, chasing Boucher for Leighton at 3-0.

Laviolette was calm between periods. “I think just breathe and settle down,” Claude Giroux said of his message. “I think itwasn’t time to panic. We had 40 minutes left and three goals. We have a lot of guys onthis team that can score goals. Hope guys are pretty excited for Sunday.” From the point Leighton entered, the Flyers were all over the Sabres, outshooting them13-1 at one juncture in the second period. Remember Boston last spring? Flyers trailing 3-0 in Game 4? JVR ignited the historiccomeback. Likewise here as he got a stretch rebound in the crease at 8:12 for the first,Flyer goal. “We knew we had a lot more to give after that first period,” JVR said. Two minutes later, Versteeg threaded a pass between two defenders to himself to gainentry into the zone. Versteeg then went to the net to screen out Miller as Andrej Meszaros blasted from the point. Now it was 3-2. To that point, from the time Boucher left the game in the first period, the Sabres had justthree shots on net. That’s how dominant the Flyers were. Not only that, they were killingthe Sabres on the backcheck, even Zherdev, who doesn’t do that very often. “We feel that we’ve had control of the puck in every game for the most part, and we’veout-chanced them most of the games,” Briere said. “I don’t know, outplayed is a strongword, but we believe that we are the better team, but there’s not much time left to provethat.”



12. CSNPhilly.com – Leighton's return can't quite seal Flyers' comeback

Sarah Baicker

The doors to the Flyers’ bench swung open and Michael Leighton, to a round of cheersfrom the crowd, took his first strides out onto the Wells Fargo Center Ice. He looked onas starting goalie Brian Boucher hung his head and left the game.

To be clear, this was late in the first period of Game 5 this year. You know, 2011. Weunderstand if you might feel a bit misled – after all, the Boucher-for-Leighton mid-gameswitch has notoriously happened more than a few times in the past.

But Friday night, the circumstances were different. Boucher had lasted less than 16minutes, allowing three ugly goals on only 11 Buffalo Sabre shots. And Leighton’s last30 games were spent playing with the Adirondack Phantoms in the American Hockey

League.Of course, this is Flyers hockey … we’re all used to goalies making headlines.

This time, though, Leighton’s return was not enough to help the Flyers cap an impressivecomeback in which they surged from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game at 3 in the third period, before falling to the Sabres 4-3 in overtime.

“These are big games,” Danny Briere said. “It’s the playoffs. It’s a tough job. Sometimesyou can be a hero quick, it can go the other way quick as well. It’s the nature of the position. But you’ve got to give Leights a lot of credit.”

After entering the game at 15:36 of the opening period, Leighton wasn’t tested much bythe Sabres. He faced just two shots in the closing minutes of the first period, and onlyfive through all 20 minutes of the second – he saved 20 of 21 in all.

But if his entrance in the game had an effect on his teammates, it was a wildly positiveone. The Flyers’ play picked up almost immediately. After a tough start to the game, theFlyers finally put ample pressure of Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, catching him out of position twice during the second period. During that same period, they outshot Buffalo15-5. Just minutes into the third period, they knotted the score.

“At that point, when it was 3-0, we needed to make a change,” coach Peter Laviolettesaid. “I thought Michael came in and he did a good job for us. He just settled it down inthere. There weren’t a lot of chances in the game or throughout it. … I thought Michaelcame in and did a good job.”

Said Claude Giroux, “We decided to switch it up I bit, and I think we got momentum, we just kind of switched it up and were able to come back.”



There was a feeling amongst those who’ve followed the team so far this postseason thatLeighton would make an appearance at some point before the Flyers’ run ended – it justdidn’t seem likely to happen so soon.

But after Boucher allowed one soft goal, and then another, and still another, Leighton

finally got the call. And he was ready for it.

“I’ve kind of been prepared the whole time,” Leighton said. “(Goalie coach Jeff) Reesehas told me he doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the playoffs with injuries andstuff, so I’ve been really working hard in practice and preparing for this situation and sureenough it comes up.”

By now, it’s rather old news that this was a rough year for Leighton. Originally re-signedover the summer with the belief that he would begin the 2010-11 season as the Flyers’starting goalie, he was quickly thwarted by back problems that continued to affect his play well into the season.

He played just one regular-season game with the Flyers this year, a 7-4 victory on Dec.30 in Los Angeles. Though he got the win, he looked shaky and uncertain through all 60minutes and the Flyers did not again seek his services.

Until now.

When the Flyers recalled him, Leighton had just sealed up his season with two shutoutvictories for the Phantoms, but he hadn't played at the NHL level in months.

So he must have been feeling the pressure, right?

“No, not really,” Leighton said. “There’s not much pressure on me. It’s 3-0, if they scoreon me it’s 4-0. … We played a great game and we battled back and like I said we should be proud.”

Leighton’s shutout streak was finally ended by Tyler Ennis at 184:31.

From goalie who shut out the Montreal Canadiens a team record three times in theEastern Conference Final, to netminder banished to the minors, to Boucher’s relief in2011, it’s already been a wild ride for Leighton.

The biggest question facing him now is: Does he start Game 6 in Buffalo?

“Definitely I want to play,” he said. “But Boosh has done a great job to get us in thissituation and tonight was one of those nights where two of those goals – you could probably take 100 shots from there and you might score one, so it’s a tough bounce. Wehave confidence in Boosh. He’s going to bounce back and play a good one in Buffalo."

Laviolette, true to form, would offer no clue as to his



"I’m going to sleep on that," he said, when asked about goalie choices for Game 6. "Andthen probably give you nothing."

13. CSNPhilly.com – Flyers notes: Sabres' Ennis finishes what he starts

Tim Panaccio and Sarah Baicker

Tyler Ennis had an impact game Good Friday night at the Wells Fargo Center. He began the game with a goal for the Buffalo Sabres. And he ended it with one too, at5:31 of overtime, as the Sabres won 4-3 and can finish the Flyers off Sunday in Buffalo. “It was definitely a roller coaster of a game,” Ennis said. “But we worked hard andworked through it. This is definitely a great place to play, and anytime you can silence

the crowd like that, it's an awesome feeling.” Incredibly, he thought he would be the hero. Not Thomas Vanek or Tim Connolly or Nathan Gerbe. “Everyone was excited in the locker room before overtime,” Ennis said. “All I know, is Iwanted to score the winner. I just wanted to be the guy who ended it.” Tough guy call-upIt was a surprising move – and a definite over-reaction by the Flyers – that tough guy ZacRinaldo was in the lineup to replace Jeff Carter.

This is the playoffs. There’s no need for a guy with 331 penalty minutes unless you’retelling the NHL, “OK, you won’t call the rough stuff? Here’s some rough stuff from us – deal with it."

In fact, heading into the game, Rinaldo had more suspensions (four) than he did goals(three). He had been ejected from his last two games with the Adirdondack Phantoms, both times in the first period. Talk about a curious decision.

All that considered, it isn't much of a surprise that Rinaldo played just 1:56 through two periods – three shifts. He did have three hits, though.

Kaleta’s takePatrick Kaleta insisted he was not trying to deliberately injure Nikolay Zherdev in Game4 by opening the door as the Z was being checked into the bench gate.

The gate opened and Zherdev tumbled into the Sabres' bench.



“Not on purpose,” Kaleta said. “There’s a chain and what you do is pop it open and slidedown … It happens, it’s kind of funny. Just because I did it, whatever.”

Whining IISabres coach Lindy Ruff was asked about how he thought his Flyers “whining”

comments would play out in Philly. He said, he only cared how they played out with his players.

“I think we got a lot of motivation from their comments,” Ruff said. “The comment wegot away with murder. I think we got a lot of motivation from that. That really fired usup, that’s what I really think. When we heard the phrase, ‘they’re getting away withmurder’ that was our motivation.”

Loose pucksJason Pominville went off the ice in the second period with a right leg/ankle injury anddid not return. His loss was evident on the Sabres' power play. Then again, this is just as

significant as the Flyers losing Carter in Game 4. … The Flyers went 0 for 5 on the power play through regulation and are now 2 for 26 in the series. … The Flyers had 87attempts – 39 on net, 29 that were blocked and 19 missed. The Flyers have put at least 60 pucks towards the net in four of the five games of the series. … Andrej Meszaros had agoal and an assist, played a team-high 28:40, posted five shots on goal and recorded twohits. … Every skater on Buffalo’s roster blocked at least one shot tonight except Patrick Kaleta. …The Flyers are 6-10 in Game 6 when trailing a series 3-2. They are 2-14 in 16series all-time. The two series they won were the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals vs.Boston and the 1989 Patrick Division finals vs. Pittsburgh.

14. CSNPhilly.com – Source: Pronger and Carter done for rest of series

Tim Panaccio

While Chris Pronger seems to making progress on his injured right hand, a source closeto the Flyers’ defenseman told CSNPhilly.com that he will not be available to play at any point in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Officially, the Flyers are listing him as day-to-day. Additionally, don’t expect to see Jeff Carter in any remaining games, as well. He has aseverely sprained MCL in his right knee and is wearing a brace. Pronger is still experiencing pain in the fractured area around the right hand, the sourcesaid, adding he is still unable to take contact with the hand sufficiently to defend himself on the ice.



There is concern about what kind of impact he could have if he can’t even defendhimself. “The kind of game he plays, he can’t play with that hand right now,” the source said.

Pronger, the source said, has felt pressure from many sides, especially the media, to playin the series, but doesn’t want to compromise safety only to get re-injured and perhapssuffer another setback. Pronger took slap shots for the first time in weeks at the morning skate but also waswincing at times. “He has pain,” the source said. In fairness, Pronger's slap shots Friday morning didn’t have as much authority on them aswe’ve seen in the past. Pronger stayed on the ice after teammates left shooting pucks. He

also declined interviews. Pronger did take part in every aspect of the drills but as Matt Carle -- his on-ice partner --said, the decision was going to likely come down to how much pain he had this morningand what he can tolerate.

Obviously, we know the answer. If Pronger had played, it was going to be in a limited role. “When he comes out there, you expect him to be the Hall of Fame defenseman he is,”Carle said, admitting he had no idea what Pronger’s intentions were of playing. “Youdon’t think anything less of him. We have to see how he’s feeling. He’s the only one whocan answer that.” Carle said teammates were encouraged to see him finally take slap shots, which he hasnot done since March. “It’s been a long process for him and frustrating at time, but for him to be able to unload, but like I said, you don’t know when he is doing that, how he’s feeling. He’ll probablywould not tell you until the summertime when he’s taking those shots how much pain heis feeling, if at all.” Coach Peter Laviolette said he thought Pronger “looked good” and was encouraged byhis shooting. As for Carter, the Flyers learned to live without him for 11 games in the middle of the playoffs last season with a broken right foot, courtesy of a Pronger slap shot. How ironic both are out for this series now?



If the Flyers are going to defeat the Sabres and move on, it’s not about having Pronger or even Carter available. It’s about having traffic and scoring some goals on Sabres’ goalieRyan Miller who had shut them out twice, going into Game 5.

WhiningSabres coach Lindy Ruff accused the Flyers of doing a lot of “whining” on Thursday. Laviolette said he wasn’t going to get into a rhetoric war with Ruff. “I thought it was funny,” Laviolette said. “One of the coaches did a little spoof on ittoday in the coaches office and took out the word ‘whining’ and put in ‘winning.’ It was pretty funny. We don’t get involved in that crap. But it was funny. We had a good timewith it.” Lineups

In addition to Carter (right knee sprain), Andreas Nodl (right eye) did not skate. He toowill not play in Game 5. … It would appear Darroll Powe will work in Carter’s spot onClaude Giroux’s line with James van Riemsdyk and that Ben Holmstrom will replacePowe on Blair Betts’ fourth line with Dan Carcillo. … Buzzword in the room was“traffic” as players said the Flyers need more traffic on Miller.

15. Delaware County Times – Flyers rally from early 3-0 deficit, but fall in OT

Anthony SanFilippo

PHILADELPHIA — It’s not last season anymore.

Down three goals early in the first period, the Flyers fought their way back, evokingmemories of a miraculous run a year ago.

However, it all came to a crashing halt when Tyler Ennis banged home the rebound of aMike Weber shot in overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 4-3 win over the Flyers atWells Fargo Center in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

Buffalo now leads the best-of-seven series 3-2 and can eliminate the Flyers Sundayafternoon in Buffalo.

“I feel good about our game,” said Danny Briere. “We deserved to win that one onceagain. The chances were lopsided. It was just a rough start. Something we need toimprove on obviously, but that’s the way. We were in a worse position last year and if there’s a group of guys that can do it, I believe in this group here.

“It’s a tough loss, but the worst thing we can do is hang our heads right now. We have tocontinue to work hard because I believe good things can still happen.”



After their worst period of the postseason, the Flyers answered with perhaps their best inthe second, and followed it up with a solid third period to overcome a three goal deficitand force the overtime period.

And just like last season, it all started with a goal from James van Riemsdyk.

With Ryan Miller unable to corral the rebound of an Andrej Meszaros shot, vanRiemsdyk used his long reach to grab the puck and slide it past Miller — and there was aspark.

It was certainly reminiscent of the comeback in Game 7 of the Boston series, becausefrom there the Flyers took over.

Meszaros scored less than two minutes later on a howitzer from the point, and also likethat historic game in Boston, Briere tied it in the third period when he lifted a backhander

past Miller for his third goal of the playoffs.The play was set up by a relentless forecheck by Kris Versteeg as he stripped ChrisButler and got the puck to Mike Richards who found Briere on the doorstep with a brilliant pass behind the net.

The Flyers peppered Miller throughout the third, but the Sabres’ world class goalie wasup to the task, making fine saves on Nik Zherdev and Claude Giroux on golden scoringchances.

But the game wasn’t all that lopsided in favor of the Flyers.

Concerned more with running around and proving that they are still the Flyers and thattheir machismo as a physical hockey team hasn’t waned, the Flyers were caught bysurprise when the Sabres played the first period as a disciplined team intent on winning ahockey game and not worried about the other shenanigans, no matter how much bluster their coach portrayed in that fashion.

That, and the two worst goals allowed by Brian Boucher all season put the Flyers in athree-goal hole.

While the likes of Zac Rinaldo, playing in his first NHL game after averaging 5.52 penalty minutes per game in the AHL this season, and Dan Carcillo bouncing off everything with a white buffalo and a couple of rapiers emblazoned on it, the Sabres werescoring cheap goals.

First it was Ennis shooting from a horrible angle along the goal line banking a shot in off of Boucher’s pad to give the Sabres an early lead.



Then, a minute-and-a-half later Thomas Vanek did the same thing from the other side of the net, and it was 2-0 Buffalo before you could blink an eye.

“I was anticipating a pass and he shot it on net,” Boucher said. “The second one, I don’tthink I would do anything differently, it just went in off my knee.

“I take full responsibility for it. I put my team behind the eight ball. It’s on me. Those aregoals that can’t go in.”

Following a goalie interference penalty by Briere, Marc-Andre Gragnani scored on the power play for the Sabres to make it 3-0 and the end of Boucher’s night — a little morethan 15 minutes of action, 11 shots faced, three goals allowed.

It sent shivers all the way up to the press box.

“I have to tell you, I was numb in the first period,” admitted team president Peter

Luukko.Into the net came one of last year’s playoff heroes — Michael Leighton.

He played just one game for the Flyers all season and was waived to the Phantoms after early season back surgery.

Nobody wanted him in the league. He was left to play out his season in the minors. Nobody wanted him when the Flyers recalled him earlier this month and he clearedwaivers again.

The third goalie for the start of the series, Leighton was called on to backup Boucher after Sergei Bobrovsky gagged in Game 2.

Boucher was great for nearly three games, but was not sharp at all Friday and threw atemper tantrum down the tunnel leading to the Flyers locker room, throwing his glove,his helmet and knocking over a whole rack of his teammates’ sticks — while the gamewas still going on.

Who Laviolette will turn to for Game 6 is a mystery, but one that has become a bit of acustom for the Flyers.

“I’d very much like to redeem myself,” Boucher said. “It was my responsibility tonight. Itake ownership in that. To put your team in a hole like that in such an important game — they didn’t deserve that. I’d to get a second crack at it. We’ll see what happens.”

The Flyers are just 2-14 all-time when trailing 3-2, with one of those wins coming in theshocker against Boston last spring.



“I can look around the room at my teammates that were there and those that have proventhey can rise when the desperation is needed,” Briere said.

“And, the guys that we added have won Stanley Cups so they know what it takes. Wenever thought it would be easy. This is a good challenge for us. We’ve been good on the

road… and we know we can win in Buffalo.

“We feel that we’ve controlled the puck in every game so far and we’ve out chancedthem… We believe that we are the better team, but there’s not much time left to provethat.”

16. Delaware County Times – McCaffery: Get pushed around? Not these Flyers

Jack McCaffery

PHILADELPHIA —- Lindy Ruff can close his eyes and hear what the Flyers arethinking, are saying, are meaning. He can close them and hear the echoes, near anddistant, from two decades ago, from two nights ago.

“Whiners,” the Buffalo Sabres’ coach said.

The Flyers? Those Flyers? These Flyers? Now?

Ruff didn’t get to be a coach in the NHL without knowing all the rules, those written,those spoken. And one of the rules is to take a playoff series, any playoff series, andmake it personal. It’s good for business.

His goalie, Ryan Miller, had tried as much over the weekend, waiting until he wassurrounded by cameras and questioning the Flyers’ toughness. “I’m not trying to start anycontroversy,” he said. No. Not him. But that was after Game 2. By the time the Sabreshad defeated the Flyers, 4-3 in overtime of Game 5 Friday at the Wells Fargo Center, thatwas already tame by NHL playoff standards. In that society, three games are more thanenough to turn ordinary comments into fighting words and fighting words into fights.

And once that happens, the Flyers will be the Flyers. Goaltenders, they will change. Fivegames into this postseason, they are already onto their third. But they will never edit along-ago franchise mission statement to never be intimidated.

It’s why 20-year-old centerman Zac Rinaldo was in orange uniform No. 51, in the lineupand ultimately in the faces of the Sabres Friday. That would be the same Zac Rinaldowho had never before been deemed worthy of dressing for a regular-season NHL game, but whose reputation as a hockey irritant was phone-book thick. Once, he’d served a 12-game OHL suspension for administering a blind-side hit in a particularly sour-blooded



game. This season with the Phantoms, he played 60 games, scored three goals and had331 penalty minutes.

Within two minutes Friday, Rinaldo had crashed into Thomas Vanek, the first Sabre inhis way. Then he appeared to catch Chris Butler in the mouth with a stick before

ramming Patrick Kaleta into the boards. That meant Rinaldo’s NHL career was one shiftlong, yet already he had assured that the Sabres’ team chiropractor would be busy later.Whether or not it would mean the Flyers would be busy next week, well, apparently thatwasn’t in the roster-construction plans. Ruff had accused them of whining — that after three games of the series in which the Flyers regularly had been tossed about. And thatwas the Flyers’ cue to dress somebody whose uniform number and bush-league penalty-minute total would be high.

“Emotions get going in the playoffs,” Kris Versteeg said. “Put a camera on Lindy Ruff and see who whines. That’s all I’ll say. It’s just something he always does to keep theattention off his team.”

Ruff whines, the Flyers whine, everybody whines in hockey whenever the inconvenient penalty-box door screeches open. It’s part of the culture. “It’s something to talk about,”said Danny Briere, whose third-period goal forced a 3-3 tie. “There are things that willmotivate us. Not that.” Ruff, though, cleverly made it a Thursday topic, thus forcing theFlyers to respond, first verbally, then with that odd lineup.

“I thought it was funny,” Peter Laviolette said. “One of the coaches did a little spoof on ittoday in the coaches’ office. He took out the word ‘whining’ and he put in ‘winning.’ Wedon’t get involved in too involved in that crap. So it was funny. We had a good time withit.”

Turned out, the Flyers were closer to reacting to Ruff with a snarl than a smile.

Given the events of the morning skate, there were hints that Rinaldo was hanging aroundfor more than a hockey internship. One was the delay in rugged Jody Shelley leaving theice, a pattern of a player likely to be scratched that night. There would have to be asuitable replacement. But the more dramatic signs pointed to a slightly moreaccomplished Flyer being dressed — one Chris Pronger. For the first time since breakinghis hand March 8, Pronger was seen attempting slapshots. That was believed to be hisfinal passed endurance test before being cleared to play.

The Flyers, terrified to say anything about injuries under some weird pressure fromabove, seemed to be brightened by the prospect of Pronger returning. And given that theyreally couldn’t afford to roll back to Buffalo while facing elimination, there wasn’t muchreason for them to continue to shield a Hall of Fame-level defenseman from harm.

Later, though, some word had leaked that Pronger’s workout was not as successful as itlooked. So by the time the Flyers re-appeared Friday, there was no Pronger. But therewas Rinaldo.



The Flyers always have had a way of showing what they are thinking.

Lindy Ruff knew that all along.

17. Delaware County Times – Boucher The Only Answer For Game 6

Anthony SanFilippo

Peter Laviolette said he's going to sleep on his goaltender decision for Game 6... butwon't make a public declaration Saturday.

That's fine, it's all part of the gamesmanship of the playoffs.

But if Laviolette is a smart coach, and there's plenty of evidence to prove that is the case,he will go back to Brian Boucher in goal for Game 6.

Really, there's no other choice.

Here's why:

He's the best goalie they have when it comes to dealing with the pressure of anelimination game.

Yes, Michael Leighton did the job in three elimination games against Boston last season - but don't forget the Bruins were bereft of any offensive talent whatsoever at that pointand the Flyers had a date with destiny.

That was also pre-back injury Leighton. He's a lot different now. He's good enough towin in the AHL, but not the NHL - otherwise he'd have played more than one NHL gamethis season AND he wouldn't have started the playoffs third on the depth chart.

He's fine in an emergency, but once again you saw his weaknesses in Game 5. Heallowed just one goal - the game winner, but it was a big rebound - something he is proneto giving up.

Not to mention, he looked shaky throughout the rest of the game. There were a few shotshe stopped with good positioning, but there were a lot of close calls too. He seemed rusty.He seemed a little slow - no matter what the players and coaches say about him calmingthings down - he went untested until late in the third period.



As for Sergei Bobrovsky, he might have the most skill, talent and upside, but he is a not-ready-for-prime-time player. Let's talk Bobrovsky down the road. For now, he's a non-factor.

Which leaves Boucher.

Yes, he gave up a pair of unsightly goals in the first period. Yes he put his team in a badspot by only stopping eight of 11 shots before leaving the ice, trailing the game 3-0. Yeshe is a journeyman and, to most observers, no better than a backup.

But, he is best prepared to handle the rigors of a Game 6 in Buffalo. Remember, until thecrazy first period ensued, Boucher led all goalies in save percentage in the playoffs - better than Henrik Lundqvist. Better than Roberto Luongo. Better than Antti Niemi.Better than Marc-Andre Fleury. Better than Carey Price. Better than all of them.

And now, after a horrible performance - the worst of his career and the first time in 32

career playoff starts that he was yanked - Boucher wants another crack at it.“I’d very much like to redeem myself,” Boucher said. “It was my responsibility tonight. Itake ownership in that. To put your team in a hole like that in such an important game – they didn’t deserve that. I’d to get a second crack at it. We’ll see what happens.”

If you listen to Leighton, he's already resigned to the fact that it's Boucher's series to lose.

"I definitely want to play but Boosh has done a great job to get us in this situation andtonight was one of those nights," Leighton said. "Two of those goals... you can probablytake 100 shots from there and you might score one, so it's a tough bounce. (Like Patrick Kane in Game 6 of the Cup Finals, but I digress) We have confidence in Boosh. He'sgoing to bounce back and play a good one in Buffalo."

Boucher wants to get back in the net. Leighton wants him there too. All that's left is for Laviolette to wake up tomorrow and realize the same thing - it's his best and only choice.

"I'll bounce back," Boucher said. "I'm a pretty resilient person. I'm pretty upset right now,I'm not going to lie to you. It was a big game and I wanted to have a good start and Ididn't have that."

There's no guarantee Boucher will win Game 6 - or both Game 6 and Game 7 for thatmatter, but if you're playing the odds, he's a better bet than anyone else.

...........................

On a separate note, but still related tot he goaltending situation, it was a little more than ayear ago that I was talking to Flyers' president Peter Luukko in the press box and he toldme the Flyers couldn't continue to go on the same way with the goalies.



"We can't keep going the same way we have year after year," Luukko said. "We have togo in a different direction with goaltending - get someone young and stick with him."

That was before the unexpected run to the Finals. Before Leighton's magic act. BeforeBoucher's gutsy first round performance.

But, they did follow what Luukko said - and tried to turn things over to Bobrovsky. But,that didn't work either - at least not now.

Once again the offseason will be ripe with questions about goalies. Will the Flyers ever learn? Or will we see another playoff with the two of the three goalies currently in themix trying to win a Cup again?

It seems like the vicious circle that will never end. Pity.

18. Bucks County Courier-Times – OT loss sends Flyers to the brink

Wayne Fish

PHILADELPHIA - There might be only one game left for the Flyers to show if they canstill recapture last season's playoff magic.

After taking a 2-1 lead in their playoff series with the Sabres, it looked like the Flyerswere headed in the right direction.

Then came a frustrating loss in Buffalo on Wednesday, and an even more vexing one onFriday night - a 4-3 overtime defeat that spoiled a gallant three-goal comeback.

Now the Flyers, down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference best-of-seven quarterfinal series, arefaced with elimination on Sunday in Game 6 at Buffalo.

In their playoff history, the Flyers are 2-14 when trailing a series by a 3-2 margin. Their only comebacks came in 1989, when they rallied against Pittsburgh in the Patrick Division finals, and last season when they stormed back from 0-3 to shock Boston.

The Flyers were down 3-0 in the first 15:36, and the first two goals past Brian Boucher were shockingly soft. Then the third puck hit the net, and that prompted coach Peter Laviolette to go to his third goalie of the series, Michael Leighton.

Leighton held the fort as the Flyers stormed back in the second period to close the gap to3-2. And then a Danny Briere goal early in the third tied it.

But at 5:31 of overtime, Tyler Ennis scored off a Mike Weber rebound, and now theFlyers have their backs to the proverbial wall.



If the Flyers are down about the prospect of going home early, they're trying hard not toshow it.

Briere is still a believer.

"I felt good about our game," Briere said. "We deserved to win that once again. Thechances were lopsided. Bad start spotting them a three-goal lead; I think it was 10 to twoin shots on net. It was just a rough start, something we need to improve on.

"We can't hang our heads. We were in a worse position than that last year, so if there is agroup of guys who can do it, I believe in this group of guys here."

Laviolette said he has faith.

"The resiliency that we showed to fight back into it, we kept coming," Laviolette said.

"We had a lot of opportunities, we just weren't able to get the fourth one."I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the group. At no point did I think we weregoing to lose the game tonight. We were going back to Buffalo and we had to win thereanyway. So nothing changes for us. We have to go to Buffalo and win, period."

As for the decision regarding which goaltender will start on Sunday, Laviolette said: "I'mgoing to sleep on that and then probably give you nothing."

Boucher was distraught after the loss, basically saying he let his teammates down.

"It was my responsibility tonight," he said. "I take ownership. To put your team in a holelike that when it's an important game, they didn't deserve that. I'd like to get a secondcrack at it; we'll see what happens. I'll bounce back, I'm a pretty resilient person."

Claude Giroux said the Flyers haven't given up hope.

"Hopefully, no one should be happy," he said. "I think there is no guy on this team thatwants to be down 3-2. We've got to find a way to play 60 minutes, just like in the second period."

The Flyers came roaring back in that second period, outscoring Buffalo by a 2-0 marginand outshooting them, 15-5.

James van Riemsdyk got it going with a goal at 8:12. Andrej Meszaros fired a bullet thatRyan Miller stopped. But JVR pounced on the rebound and backhanded it into the net.

Just 1:45 later, Meszaros sent a rocket that eluded Miller.



Then Briere scored off a Kris Versteeg steal at 3:36 of the third, and the Flyers seemed tohave momentum on their side.

But Ennis called a halt to the proceedings with his putback goal.

In what amounted to their most bumbling start of the year, the Flyers allowed two goalsin the first four minutes, watched Boucher get lifted after allowing a third, and foundthemselves on the short end of a 3-0 score at the first intermission.

Boucher was awful. He permitted a goal from Ennis at 2:24 on shot not more than threefeet above the end line. Then, at 3:51, Thomas Vanek banked home a shot from belowthe end line that hit Boucher's right pad and kicked in.

Finally, with Briere in the penalty box, Marc-Andre Gragnani scored from the rightfaceoff dot at 15:36.

That was all for Boucher, who was replaced by Leighton, seeing his first postseasonaction since Game 6 of last season's Stanley Cup Finals.

Short shots

Zac Rinaldo was the replacement for Jeff Carter, who suffered a sprained medialcollateral ligament in his right knee during a collision with Tyler Myers in Game 4, and isout for the series. ... All-time, the Flyers are 28-34 in elimination games.

19. Bucks County Courier-Times – Commentary: Flyers playing goalie guessing

game

Dom Cosentino

PHILADELPHIA - Step right up, everybody. If it's springtime, it must mean thegoaltender roulette wheel is spinning again in South Philly.

So come one, come all, come gather 'round and watch her go. Yes, yes. The options areorange and black, and while there's no telling which one has lady luck on its side, it'sstarting to look like both will lose after Friday night.

Peter Laviolette put forth an air of calm after the Flyers' 4-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres putthem in a 3-2 series hole, but it's difficult to ignore the notion that the coach made a panicked decision earlier this week that in part put the team in this now-perilous position.

Sure, Brian Boucher played admirably in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky in Game 2. But therisk of moving Boucher from the bullpen while banishing Bob to the bench after that wasfraught with risk, and that risk - quite literally - caught the Flyers from behind in Game 5.



Boucher first gave up a soft goal when Tyler Ennis beat him from a side angle a littlemore than two minutes in. But a minute-and-a-half later, Thomas Vanek somehow gotone by him even though Vanek was actually positioned somewhere behind the net, whichought to be tough to do. By the time Boosh gave up a third goal - and at least that onewas tricky enough to have come on a power play - Laviolette made the decision to

recycle Michael Leighton, who less than three weeks ago was still plying his wares inAdirondack.

Come one, come all...

But now what?

"I'm going to sleep on that," Laviolette said, "and then probably give you nothing."

Well, OK. Laviolette's uncertainty is somewhat understandable, considering the stakes.He's entitled to sleep on it, maybe mull it over with a cup of coffee in the morning,

perhaps even take it for a walk before buying it lunch. But a decision will have to come atsome point, and the Flyers are quickly running out of opportunities to manufacture someurgency now that they're one loss away from being eliminated in the first round.

Having the 22-year-old Bobrovsky as a starter, with the 34-year-old Boucher at the readyas his closer, seemed like a working strategy, at least until Laviolette figured it wasn't.The coach himself said after Game 2 that having Boucher around as a stopper worked asa way to steady this team in times of trouble.


But now what?

"I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the group in that room," Laviolette saidthis time. "At no point did I think we were going to lose the game (Friday night). Yet, wedid. We were going back to Buffalo anyway and we had to win a game in Buffalo. Sonothing changes for us. We have to go to Buffalo and win, period."

Which is true, except for that otherwise minor detail that if they lose in Buffalo, their season is over.

As they scuffled toward the finish in the season's final month, the general feeling was thatthe Flyers were waiting for the playoffs to turn it on, that with their position in the postseason secure, there was little urgency, little reason to worry. Not having ChrisPronger and now Jeff Carter also provided some cover.


But now what?



Claude Giroux said he figured guys would be "(ticked) off" enough to do what they haveto do, which is now all they have left.

"I think no one should be happy," Giroux said. "I think there's not one guy on this teamthat wants to be down 3-2 right now."

It's certainly an understatement to say this series has had its share of momentum shifts,that it's been chaotically back-and-forth, that's it's been wonderfully entertaining. AndGame 5, with the Sabres owning the first period before the Flyers came all the way back,only to lose, really encapsulated that.

There's always the chance things can shift back in the Flyers' favor for Game 6, thenagain in Game 7. But that's the thing about chance: It's unknowable, and it's filled withrisk.

"Since when," Giroux wondered, "did we start doing things normal here?"

So come one, come all. Come take your chances on the South Philly goaltender roulette.Go ahead and bet orange and black. This season, anyway, it might soon be your lastopportunity.

20. Camden Courier-Post – Flyers pushed to brink

Chuck Gormley

PHILADELPHIA — The irony in the imagery was hard to ignore.

At one end of the Flyers locker room, third-string goaltender Michael Leighton talkedabout keeping his teammates in a game they had no business being in.

"We played a great game and battled back," Leighton said, "and we just fell a little short."

At the other end of the room, backup-turned-starter Brian Boucher stared into the glare of television cameras and admitted what everyone had seen for themselves -- that two softgoals set the stage for what became a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres in the mostcrucial game of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

"I take full responsibility for it," Boucher said. "I put my team behind the eight-ball and itwas on me. Those are goals that can't go in."

Tyler Ennis shoved the Flyers to the brink of playoff elimination when he scored 5minutes, 31 seconds into overtime, snapping a Mike Weber rebound past Leighton togive the Sabres a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.



In their playoff history, the Sabres are 5-1 when leading a best-of-seven playoff series 3-2. The Flyers are 2-14 when trailing a playoff series 3-2, their only victories comingagainst the Penguins in the 1989 playoffs and against the Bruins last spring, when theyrallied from an 0-3 deficit in the conference semifinals.

"We know what it takes," Flyers center Claude Giroux said. "We can't be panicking. We just have to go out there and play our game like we did in the second and third period."

The biggest question heading into Sunday's pivotal Game 6 in Buffalo is whichgoaltender Peter Laviolette will start.

"I'm going to sleep on that and then probably give you nothing,"'Laviolette said.

Boucher made a public plea to get a second chance.

"I'd very much like to redeem myself,"' he said. "I take ownership for (Game 5). To putyou team in a hole like that in an important game like, they didn't deserve that. I'd like to

get a second crack at it. We'll see what happens I've bounced back before."

21. Camden Courier-Post – Laviolette faces tough decision

Kevin Callahan

When the Flyers snoozed to a 2-0 deficit with "God Bless America" still echoing Fridaynight, the timing seemed right for coach Peter Laviolette to pull his goalie.

Only, this wouldn't be a traditional goalie benching. It wouldn't involve replacing BrianBoucher with backup Michael Leighton. Instead, it would involve yanking Boucher and playing six skaters on five the rest of the game.

Really, desperate times call for desperate doings.

And, the Flyers were scrambled.

They trailed early in the first period in the suddenly silent Wells Fargo Center, and theycouldn't score. That's a bad combination.

Even before the quick collapse, Laviolette looked as desperate as Lindsay Lohan bydressing the unproven Zac Rinaldo for Game 5. Rinaldo is much better known for hissuspensions in the American Hockey League than for scoring goals.

Down 2-0 against the Sabres before all the home fans had come in from the parking lot --and with Ryan Miller tending the Buffalo net -- things seemed so desperate for the Flyersthat they probably hoped fog would envelop the Wells Fargo Center ice as it once did the



The Flyers were in position to make Laviolette look like a master motivator once they'dtied the score 3-3.

Now, the Flyers coach must be masterful when he makes the biggest personnel decisionof the season.

Whichever goalie Laviolette decides to start must also finish the game.

Otherwise, the Flyers are done.

22. Camden Courier-Post – With 3 out, Flyers make odd move

Chuck Gormley

PHILADELPHIA — If Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger could not lace 'em up for Friday night's crucial Game 5 against the Buffalo Sabres, is there any reason to believe hecan play in the remainder of the first-round series?

Sidelined since March 8 with a broken right hand, Pronger participated in Friday'smorning skate and took a few slap shots for the first time in four weeks, leading tospeculation he would make his 2011 playoff debut at the Wells Fargo Center.

Instead, Pronger decided discretion was the better part of valor and sat out his 21ststraight game. With Game 6 slated for Sunday afternoon in Buffalo and Game 7 a possibility for Tuesday night in Philadelphia, it's entirely possible Pronger will not play

again until the second round of the playoffs -- if the Flyers advance that far.

The same is likely for right wing Jeff Carter, who sat out Friday's game with a sprainedmedial collateral ligament in his right knee. Carter has not skated since Wednesdaynight's collision with Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers in Game 4 in Buffalo.

Left wing Andreas Nodl (eye laceration) also sat out for the Flyers, clearing the way for Zac Rinaldo to make his NHL debut in a Stanley Cup playoff game.

Rinaldo, 20, was a very interesting choice by Laviolette, considering he had 331 penaltyminutes for the Phantoms this season and had more American Hockey League

suspensions (four) than he had goals (three).Rinaldo was the third Flyer to make his NHL playoff debut in this series, joininggoaltender Sergei Bobrovsky and defenseman Danny Syvret.

"Look at a guy like Bobrovsky, who played our opening game," Laviolette said. "Atsome point young players need an opportunity, and when you get that opportunity youneed to make the most of it."



But Rinaldo? When a healthy Jody Shelley, a veteran of 596 NHL games and sevencareer playoff games, is itching to get into the lineup?

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound native of Mississauga, Ontario, was suspended four times for atotal of nine games this season and missed the final three games of the regular season for

intent to injure.Rinaldo played on a fourth line with center Blair Betts and Dan Carcillo, while right wingDarroll Powe moved up to play on a line with Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk.

Kaleta-gate

Sabres pest Patrick Kaleta claims he had no idea Flyers right wing Nik Zherdev was being checked into the boards at the same time he opened the door to the Buffalo benchin Game 4, causing Zherdev to fall into enemy territory.

"It probably wouldn't be getting this much publicity if it wasn't me," Kaleta said. "But inno way was it intentional.

"There was a line change going on. You pop the door open and slide down. You don'twant there to be a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty."

Actually, Laviolette said that's exactly what should have been called on the play, whichleft Zherdev kneeling on the floor of the Buffalo bench.

"Yeah, at the time I had a problem with it because they had seven guys on the ice andthey weren't tagged for it," Laviolette said. "But Nik's fine. He can handle that stuff.Certainly, we don't want to see anybody getting hurt."

Kaleta, whose teammates are calling him "Door Man," said his timing was simply goodfortune.

"It's what you do," he said. "You do it so many times, you kind of take it for granted."

Winning whining

The Flyers' coaching staff may not be Charlie Sheen followers, but Laviolette said theygot a chuckle out of the "whining" comments Sabres coach Lindy Ruff made.

"I thought it was funny," Laviolette said. "One of the coaches did a little spoof on it todayin the coaches' office and took out the word "whining' and put in "winning.' It was prettyfunny. We don't get involved in that crap. But it was funny. We had a good time with it."

Loose pucks

The Flyers and Sabres have been wearing playoff T-shirts trumpeting their postseasonslogans. The Sabres' T-shirts read: "Winning is not a goal. It's a belief." The Flyers'



playoff motto: "With all of our will -- we will." . . . Sabres C Tim Connolly has gone 27straight playoff games without a goal.

23. NHL.com – Sabres stun Flyers 4-3 in OT

Adam Kimelman

PHILADELPHIA -- It was W.C. Fields who famously said, "All things being equal, I'drather be in Philadelphia." Buffalo Sabres forward Tyler Ennis might have that saying ona poster in his house. Ennis scored his second goal of the game 5:31 into overtime, giving the Buffalo Sabres a4-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5 of their Eastern ConferenceQuarterfinal series. The Sabres lead the series 3-2, with Game 6 set for Sunday in Buffalo(3 p.m. ET, NBC, TSN, RDS). Game 7, if necessary, will be Tuesday in Philadelphia(7:30 p.m. ET, TSN). Marc-Andre Gragnani and Thomas Vanek also scored for the Sabres, and goalie RyanMiller stopped 36 shots.

The news wasn't all good in the first for the Sabres, who lost forward Jason Pominvillewith 3:09 left in the first period. He hopped off the ice with about three minutes left in thefirst period and was unable to put any weight on his left leg. The Sabres announced hehad a lower-body injury and would not return. TSN reported he suffered a skate cut to hisleft leg, and he was spotted leaving the Wells Fargo Center on crutches, wearing a booton that went from his foot to calf. Andrej Meszaros had a goal and an assist for the Flyers, who also got goals from Jamesvan Riemsdyk and Danny Briere. Ennis, the Sabres’ most dangerous forward all night, was alone just outside the creasewhen Mike Weber took a slap shot from the left point. Michael Leighton stopped the shotwith his right pad, but he kicked it right to Ennis, who buried it for his second goal of thegame. "I saw it pop out," Ennis said. "I tried to get to the net. I knew (Weber) was shooting it.Just hoping he (Leighton) would kick it to me. … You just got to go backdoor sometimes, got to get to the net a little more sometimes. When I saw him shooting,sometimes the paddle deflects to that spot and it did." It's not the first big goal Ennis has scored in Philadelphia. He scored his first NHL goal inhis first game here, Nov. 14, 2009. "It's definitely a fun place to play," he said of Philadelphia. "Pretty crazy."



Ennis’ goal negated a big comeback by the Flyers, who came back from a 3-0 first-perioddeficit to force overtime. The comeback started when van Riemsdyk scored his second of the series at 8:12 of thesecond period. Claude Giroux sent the puck to Meszaros at the left point. He fired a shot

that Miller came out to stop, but van Riemsdyk was able to sweep the rebound aroundMiller and into the net. Philadelphia got within a goal on Meszaros' first of the postseason. Kris Versteeg went between two Sabres two players to take the puck into the Buffalo zone, and then set up infront of Miller. The Flyers worked the puck out high, and Miller couldn't stop Meszaros' blast from just inside the blue line to make it 3-2 at 9:57. "In the second period I thought that everybody looked strong," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "We had our best period of the night. We were hard-charging, trying tofight back in. We felt like if we could win that period, we could win the game. The guys

did a really good job at unloading the tanks and getting back in." They had enough left to tie game 3:36 into the third on Briere's third goal of the series.Versteeg's hustle set up the play, as he raced behind the Buffalo net to tip the puck awayfrom Sabres defenseman Chris Butler. The puck bounced to Mike Richards, who threw a pass behind the net to Briere, and the former Sabre flipped a backhander over Miller fromthe right post.

"Kris Versteeg did a good job in keeping the puck in play," Briere said. "He was able toget it to Richie and Richie did a great job as he chipped the puck to me on the side of thenet. The puck was in the air, (and) I was a little bit lucky on the goal."

The Sabres stemmed the tide, starting with a penalty kill with 2:22 left in the third period,and the momentum from that kill carried into overtime.

"I like the fact that we were able to regroup," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We startedthe third period real good. I think we outshot them. We gave up the one opportunity andthey ended up scoring. I told the team that we need to relax and need to make plays and play in the offensive zone. I thought we made some good plays with the big kill late inthe third period and I can't say enough. They have done a tremendous job to this point onthe penalty kill." The Sabres came out firing early, scoring twice in the game's first 3:51 and chasinggoalie Brian Boucher after less than 16 minutes. Ennis gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead just 2:24 into the game. He got the puck on the left sideof the ice in the Flyers' zone, skated through a Nikolay Zherdev check and took a sharp-angled shot that went off Boucher's left leg and into the net.



Just 1:27 later, Vanek made it 2-0 when he scored from another odd angle. Patrick Kaletatipped the puck behind the Philadelphia net to Vanek, who was behind the goal line onthe left side when he shot the puck off Boucher's flexed left knee and into the net at 3:51. Buffalo made it 3-0 on Gragnani's first playoff goal. The Sabres had a 4-on-3 power play

following a goalie-interference penalty on Briere. Buffalo worked the puck around the perimeter, with Tyler Myers in the middle sending it to Gragnani in the right circle. Therookie defenseman’s shot went through a Vanek screen and just inside the far post at15:36. That ended Boucher's night after he allowed three goals on 11 shots. Leighton entered thegame, becoming the third Philadelphia goalie of the series.

It's the second straight year Philadelphia has used three goalies in one playoff series --last year in the second round against Boston, the Flyers used Boucher, Leighton androokie Johan Backlund.

"The first one I was anticipating a pass and he shot it on net," Boucher said. "The secondone, aside from maybe coming out and playing the puck before that, I don't know if Iwould've played that any differently. I mean, the guy banked it off me. But the first onewas me anticipating a pass and he threw it on net.

"I take full responsibility for it. I put my team behind the eight-ball. It was on me. Thoseare goals that can't go in."

Leighton came in and stopped 20 shots in just his second NHL game of the season. Hisonly other action came Dec. 30. Days later, he was waived and sent to the AHL. "I've kind of been prepared the whole time," Leighton said. "When I came up here, for myself, I've been working hard, practicing, and staying ready. … I've been really workinghard at practice and preparing for this situation and sure enough it comes up."

Laviolette wasn't ready to reveal anything about his goaltending plans for Game 6. "I'm going to sleep on that and probably give you (the media) nothing," he said.

The Sabres don't plan on spending too much time celebrating their win. They know theystill have a lot of work to do. "We can celebrate this for about 20 more minutes because we have to focus on the nextone," Ennis said. "We got one more."

24. NHL.com – Kids come through for Sabres



Adam Kimelman

PHILADELPHIA -- The Wells Fargo Center can be one of the League's louder, tougher arenas to play in, and when you add in the Flyers' fast, physical style of play, it can makefor a long night for young players, especially during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

However, the Sabres' biggest contributors in their 4-3 overtime victory here in Game 5Friday were some of their youngest players.

Rookie forward Tyler Ennis, 21, scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner;defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani, 24, scored his first Stanley Cup Playoff goal;defenseman Mike Weber, 23, fired the shot that led to Ennis' goal and was a plus-1 in18:18 of ice time; and defenseman Tyler Myers, 21, played a game-high 27:48,quarterbacked the power play and set up Gragnani's goal.

"I think if you want to go deep, you need that," forward Thomas Vanek said of the play

of the team's youngsters. "They were good for us all year long, and at certain points of thegame and series, we need everyone. We can't just play veterans and whatever and I think the real key play and winning goal was Weber, he had his head up and what a good shot;he didn't try to go top shelf and miss the net, he made a smart play and Ennis was justdriving the net."

The biggest play was made by Ennis, who went to the right post and was in perfect position to bang the rebound of Weber's shot from the left point past goaltender MichaelLeighton 5:31 into overtime.

"I saw it pop out," Ennis said. "I tried to get to the net. I knew (Weber) was shooting it.Just hoping he (Leighton) would kick it to me. … You just got to go backdoor sometimes, got to get to the net a little more sometimes. When I saw him shooting,sometimes the paddle deflects to that spot and it did."

Ennis also scored the game's first goal. The 5-foot-9, 157-pounder shrugged off a check by 6-foot-2, 203-pound Nikolay Zherdev along the left wall in the Flyers' end and fired ashot on net that snuck past goalie Brian Boucher just 2:24 into the game.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff has been looking for his best offensive players to start makingcontributions in the series, and that list included Ennis, who was fourth on the team in theregular season with 20 goals and 49 points, but until Game 5 had just 1 assist in theseries.

"It puts a smile on your face as a coach because I thought Ennis was tremendous tonight,"Ruff said. "You are going to one of the toughest buildings and one of the loudest to playin. That kid played fearless and hard and started from the first shift. If anyone deservedthe game-winning goal it would probably be him, but our young guys have to be givencredit because they haven't been in this situation before."



Ennis said the youthful enthusiasm helped the team heading into overtime.

"I think everyone was really excited," he said. "I know I was. I haven't been in too many NHL (playoff) overtime games. I was in one last year, I think double-overtime againstBoston. I know I just wanted to score the winner. I wanted to be that guy to score it.

"Maybe the veteran guys were a little more calm and the younger guys were maybe alittle more excited, but it's just fun, for sure."

As young as Ennis and his teammates may be, they're experienced enough to knowthere's still work to be done before they can make plans for the second round.

"We can celebrate this for about 20 more minutes because we have to focus on the nextone," Ennis said. "We got one more."

25. NHL.com – Versteeg showing why Flyers wanted him

Adam Kimelman

PHILADELPHIA -- Kris Versteeg called his season "a whirlwind," but it could be picking up the right kind of speed at just the right time.

Now playing for his third team in nine months, Versteeg on Friday had probably his bestgame with the Philadelphia Flyers since being acquired by the team in February.

Showcasing the skill, speed and hustle that made him so desirable, he drew an assist andhelped set up another goal during the Flyers' furious comeback from a 3-0 first-perioddeficit in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against Buffalo, thoughthe Sabres won the game 4-3 in overtime.

Versteeg skated the puck around three Buffalo defenders to enter the Sabres' zone andthen screened goalie Ryan Miller to help Andrej Meszaros' goal get through to make it 3-2 at 9:57 of the second.

In the third, he raced behind the Buffalo net and tipped the puck away from the Sabres'Chris Butler. Mike Richards got the loose puck and found Danny Briere on the right postfor the game-tying goal 3:36 into the third.

Versteeg had just 11 points in 27 games with the Flyers following his acquisition fromthe Toronto Maple Leafs. He has 3 assists in five playoff games, but he believes he's playing better than the numbers might show.

"Probably coming up (to my best with the Flyers) right now," he told NHL.com. "Therewere little spurts here and there where I felt pretty good. At the start it was pretty tough.



You're trying to come to a team and trying to make an impact. You're trying to get usedto a lot of new things. Been a pretty big whirlwind for me this year. I'm trying to getdown to level ground and help this team win. It's a great group of guys here and we've been having a lot of fun."

Versteeg had help in that fun Friday by playing on a line with Mike Richards.

"I think we've had a lot of chemistry since Day 1," Versteeg said. "I don't think thenumbers at time show it, but the plays and the chances we've had as a line have beengood. Sometimes we get rewarded, sometimes we don't. Maybe that comes with being aline for just the last 15, 20 games of the season. I think it's been coming along. (Richards)is a world-class player and he makes you a better player than you are."

Versteeg also said it helps to have a coach like Peter Laviolette on the bench. Laviolettesaid following the 4-3 overtime loss in Game 5 that even when his team was down 3-0 inthe first period he never felt his team was going to lose.

"He's a confident coach and it definitely spreads throughout the lineup," Versteeg said."Just puts confidence into everybody's blood. It's great to have a coach like that who can believe in you whether you're down three or up three. It's great to see that."

After winning the Stanley Cup in June with the Blackhawks – who beat the Flyers in sixgames -- Versteeg was traded over the summer to the Maple Leafs, who then shippedhim to the Flyers. Versteeg said all that movement hasn't been easy, but he's hoping tokeep this run going as long as he can.

"We have two big games ahead of us," he said. "Guys throughout the lineup are going tohave to step up."

Laperriere knows he has a lot to be thankful forBy Adam Kimelman - NHL.com Staff Writer There's a bit of irony in that the one-year anniversary of the worst day of IanLaperriere's professional life falls on Good Friday.

One year ago today, Laperriere was doing the normal dirty work he excelled at during 17 NHL seasons when something horrifically abnormal happened. He dived to block a shotand the puck caught him in the face, causing a brain contusion, among other injuries, andspeeding up the end of his hockey career.

A year after the gruesome injury, Laperriere doesn't display an ounce of bitterness over what happened.

"I don't want to go down that route to be negative," he told NHL.com a few days beforethe anniversary. "I'm more the kind of guy that's going to look at the positive. … I have alot to be thankful for."



Laperriere played 17 seasons, starting in 1993-94 with the St. Louis Blues, the team thatdrafted him in the seventh round of the 1992 Entry Draft. He also played with the NewYork Rangers, Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche before arriving inPhiladelphia in the summer of 2009.

In 1,083 games, Laperriere had 121 goals -- 21 of which came in one season, with theAvs in 2005-06 -- 215 assists and 1,956 penalty minutes. Laperriere reached double-figures in goals only three times, but had 12 seasons with at least 100 penalty minutes. At6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Laperriere never would be considered an "enforcer," but he wasmore than willing to do whatever was necessary to defend a teammate or help the team.Part of that was a willingness to throw his body in front of pucks, and the Flyers took advantage of that by using him along with Blair Betts as their top penalty-killing forwardcombination. Laperriere led all Flyers forwards last season, and was sixth among allforwards, with 74 blocked shots.

It was a combination of loyalty, courage and the willingness to do this thankless job thatled to the worst injury of his career.

The Flyers were up 3-0 in Game 5 of their first-round series against the New JerseyDevils, with a chance to eliminate their Atlantic Division rival. But with the Devils on a power play and lots of time left, the Flyers knew they couldn't let up for a second. Sowhen New Jersey's Paul Martin got into shooting position at the point, Laperriere wasgoing to do whatever it took to get in front of that shot.

He laid out a few feet in front of Martin, purposely climbing into harm's way, but hisangle was off just enough that instead of blocking the puck with his shin pads -- ideal --or upper body -- not as ideal, but still acceptable -- the puck slammed into the right sideof Laperriere's face, just above his eye.

The lasting memory is Laperriere jumping right back to his feet with a spray of bloodtrailing him as he tried to get off the ice.

"I didn't get knocked out, and I do remember everything," Laperriere said. "I remember a big sting on my face and the fear of losing my eye. That was the first thing that came tomy head. I couldn't see anything out of my right eye. I didn't panic, but I was close to it.Jimmy (McCrossin, trainer) came on the ice and that was the first question I asked him, ismy eyeball still there. I don't care if I lose my sight but at least I'll have an eyeball inthere. I know it sounds gross, but that's what I felt."

In the next moment, though, Laperriere displayed the sense of humor that has made himso universally liked and respected by his peers.



"It was the second time I got hit in the face, and my second thought was, are you kiddingme? Twice? It took me 16 years before I got one in the face, and in one year twice in theface. By a move I've been doing my whole career, blocking shots like that."

Laperriere was referring to a game against Buffalo on Nov. 27, 2009, when he caught aJason Pominville shot in the mouth, opening a gash that required about 100 stitches toclose and costing him seven teeth -- but not only did he not miss any time, he returned to play that game.

"It's one of the most courageous things I've ever seen in my life -- hockey or anything -- because he's cut up, he's hurting, and he comes back with his lip hanging over his toes,"James van Riemsdyk told the Philadelphia Inquirer days later. "I saw him go into cornersand finishing checks right after he takes one."

While Laperriere was able to laugh off the incident against the Sabres, the blow he

suffered against New Jersey was not as funny.Laperriere's eyeball was intact, but he needed 70 stitches to close a gash on his face. Healso suffered a non-displaced orbital bone fracture and -- most seriously -- a braincontusion. It was assumed that Laperriere's season -- and possibly his career -- would beover.

Instead, one month to the day later, he was in the lineup for Game 4 of the EasternConference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens.

"It was one of the most inspirational things I've seen in all my years in the game," FlyersGeneral Manager Paul Holmgren said of Laperriere's playoff return. "It's right up there, if not at the top of the list."

But Laperriere's problems weren’t over.

"We beat Boston, we go to Montreal, I'm starting to feel better," Laperriere said. "Thefirst two weeks I had positional vertigo, and that's the scariest thing I've had in my life. Ireally felt like I was going to be like that for the rest of my life, until the doctors figuredout what it was.

"In the beginning we thought it was coming from my head, which it is, but it's behind myears. It took two weeks before the doctors figured that out. And when they fixed me, after that I felt 200 times better. I didn't have the dizziness, I didn't have that vertigo feeling,which is the worst feeling in the world. All of a sudden you're feeling better. I still hadheadaches, but if you play in the NHL you play through headaches. I know concussionsare a big thing right now, but headaches are part of it. I've played with headaches before.

"I said 'I can do that, I feel pretty good.' Start skating by myself, no dizziness, not too badheadaches, and all of a sudden you're talking to yourself and the little person on your



shoulder is convincing the big person that you're OK. I won't play 20 minutes, but I mighthit seven minutes; I know I can help, I want to be part of it.

"The truth is, you get down that road and that's what I did."

When asked if he was honest with the doctors that cleared him, Laperriere admits, "Noway.""Did I lie? Yes," he continued. "I lied to myself first of all. I convinced myself first I wasOK. I passed all the tests, every test they had me pass, I passed them. … Yes, I did lie tothem. I'm sorry if they take it personal, but I don't regret it."

The only thing missing from Laperriere's career resume was any kind of long trip in the postseason. Prior to the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Laperriere had only been to the postseason seven times, for a total of 54 games. With more days behind him then aheadof him, Laperriere was able to justify throwing caution to the wind for one shot at StanleyCup glory.

"I played in this League for a long time, never been close to anything like the Cup or semifinals or anything like that," he said. "Do I regret it? Not a chance. I don't regretanything. When I'm 60 years old, am I going to suffer the consequences? Who knows?Same with the guy who took drugs when they were younger -- is he going to suffer whenhe's 60? He doesn't know, either. For me, it was my rush, my dream. I didn't want to missthe chance to be part of something special."

Laperriere played Games 4 and 5 against Montreal and all six games in the Cup Finalagainst the Chicago Blackhawks, averaging about 7 1/2 minutes per game. He had 13 hitsand five blocked shots.

He went into the summer expecting to return to full health to start the 2010-11 season, but instead he kept finding excuses as to why he didn't feel normal during his workouts.

"I trained all summer and I didn't get any headaches, but I was still in denial," he said."I'm dehydrated today, I did too much today, I'm 37 and I pushed myself too hard today,all those things. You convince yourself."

The morning of a preseason game in Minnesota, however, Laperriere finally reached his breaking point.

"I played one preseason game and I felt like things were going 100 miles an hour next tome," Laperriere said. "After that New Jersey game, we flew to Toronto, I didn't play thatnight, and the next morning we flew to Minnesota and that's when I couldn't bear theheadaches any more. I called Jimmy, said I want to meet you at the rink. (Team president) Peter Luukko was there, (GM) Paul Holmgren was on the road. I was nervous, because I lied to them all along, and I was nervous for their reaction."



His concerns were put to rest immediately, as the only thing he heard was get rest and get better, that his health was first and foremost.

"Lappy had laid a lot on the line for the organization," Holmgren said. "The way he came back in the playoffs … we felt that if he was still suffering issues, let's get this fixed."

Laperriere has used his down time as a season of exploration, getting a jump start on his post-playing career by working in a number of areas for the club, including television,community relations, scouting and player development.

"I have so much free time that I've tried everything," he said. "I'm exploring everything.I'm lucky because I have a team that's helping me in that regard. They know what kind of person I am, it's hard for me to stay away from the rink, it's hard for me to stay home andwatch the ceiling all day. They give me all the tools."

He's also been a constant figure around the Flyers' practice facility, where he continues to

work out like he's about to jump back into the lineup. In fact, for most of the season histeammates honored him by demanding his nameplate and dressing stall stay in place.

"That they left me there as long as they did, it's awesome, makes me feel special, makesme feel appreciated by my teammates," he said. "That's the ultimate compliment to me. Itook pride my whole career for playing for the guy next to me and I played it that way tothe end. For those guys to appreciate me enough to keep my equipment around that long,it makes me feel very special and I appreciate that big time."

"He was a big part of our team last year for sure, a heart-and-soul guy, and we miss him,"goalie Brian Boucher told NHL.com. "To have him around, just being around the guys, joking with the guys, it's good to see. Good for our team, good for him -- it's a win-win."

"He's an example for everybody," forward Ville Leino said. "He's an ultimate warrior.Guys love him. He's a great guy. … People look up to him. He's working hard and he'salways worked hard. He comes in every day and wants to get back. He eats, sleeps and breathes hockey. He's a motivator to every one of us."

Laperriere doesn't think about things like that; he just does them because it's all heknows."I do it because that's the way I do things," he said. "I know, too, the young guys arelooking up. That's why the brought me here last year. When I took that puck in the face in November and I came back in the third (period), the doctors thought I was crazy, but Iwasn't doing it for me, I was doing it for the young guys around me. If you're OK to play,you should play. That's why they brought me in.

"If they can say look at me as an example today, that's the ultimate compliment."Teammates aren't the only ones who appreciate Laperriere. He's become one of the most popular players in recent memory, receiving tremendous ovations anytime he's shown onthe video scoreboard.



"I don't score goals or do fancy stuff, I do the dirty work," he said. "Philly fans, Flyersfans, are great hockey fans. They know what it takes to block a shot. People here are blue-collar people who work hard for what they have and they appreciate guys who work hard on the ice."

Today that work is limited to running drills for injured and extra players. He has nervedamage in his right eye and has to wear a tinted visor when he skates because indoor lighting exacerbates his symptoms.

"I feel fine skating around with two or three guys out there -- I don't have any problems,"he said. "I've done two charity games for friends, and when there's a lot of people around, people on the ice and off the ice, with the lights, I have that feeling again of not being assharp as I could. That's my biggest issue.

"I've had eye doctors tell me my eyes don't work together anymore because since I took that puck to the eye it damaged a nerve in my right eye. For regular-day stuff I'm fine.

When I get movement around me and lights, that's what throws me off. When I say throwme off, the best way I can explain it is you're a little bit behind. You're there but you're alittle behind. And in today's game, you can't be behind." Technically Laperriere is on the Flyers' long-term injured reserve list. While he says he'scomfortable in knowing his playing career most likely is over, Laperriere finds no need tomake any formal announcement because if he does get healthy, there's nothing preventinghim from playing again.

"Right now people are like, 'Why don't you announce it,'" he said. "Why now? It won'tchange anything for anybody. For me, I don't need to rush anything. I've got time, and I'musing my time to stay in shape, trying to think about hockey but in a different way, andlooking at it in a different way.

Not having to focus on that grind all year, maybe it's going to help my eye here or myhead here."

At some point, though, he will have to decide something. Laperriere plans on staying insouthern New Jersey -- he and his wife are building a home near the Flyers' practice site-- and Holmgren said sometime after the season he'll sit with Laperriere and discuss hisfuture with the organization.Whatever the decision Laperriere ultimately makes, he'll approach it with the same positive attitude he's approached everything else.

"I played a long time and have a great family, two great kids, a great wife," Laperrieresaid. "I just can't be bitter about my place … there are some with much less to be thankfulfor than I am."

26. ESPN.com – Sabres write own script in Game 5 win



Scott Burnside

PHILADELPHIA -- In this spring of the storybook comeback, the Buffalo Sabresmanaged to find a way to stick to their own script, not just for Friday's Game 5, but perhaps also their own Stanley Cup tale.

Having watched Los Angeles, the New York Rangers and Montreal all give up big leadsand lose this week, the Sabres appeared destined to follow that same Hollywood pathafter blowing a 3-0 first-period lead against the surging Philadelphia Flyers.

But 21-year-old Tyler Ennis, who opened the scoring less than three minutes into thegame, derailed the Flyers' comeback at 5:31 of the first overtime period by converting therebound of a Mike Weber point shot to give the Sabres a 4-3 victory and a 3-2 lead in thisEastern Conference quarterfinal series.

"I think everyone was really excited. I know I was," Ennis said after his big moment. "Iknow I just really wanted to score the winner. I wanted to be that guy to score it. ...Maybe the veteran guys were a little more calm and the younger guys were maybe a littlemore excited, but just fun for sure."

It has become almost commonplace for teams to surge from behind and seize victoryfrom defeat. The arc of these games is as easy to follow as they are improbable to watch.Teams holding a lead but unable to stem the tide, unable to reverse what appears to beinevitable once the comeback snowball starts rolling down the hill.

And how many among the sold-out Wells Fargo Center faithful did not believe this one,

too, would go that way when Danny Briere, the former Sabre, tied the score at 3 just 3:36into the third period?

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette believed it would be so.

"I have a lot of confidence, I mean a tremendous amount of confidence, in the group inthat room," Laviolette said. "At no point did I think we were going to lose the gametonight, yet we did."

And yet, in the Sabres' dressing room before overtime, netminder Ryan Miller said, therewas no sense of the inevitable, or at least that inevitability.

"I think we did a good job of settling down, and what we talked about was just how muchfun is it going to be to win and who wants to go out and do it," said Miller, who stopped36 of 39 shots. "It wasn't a long conversation. There is some nervous energy there. Themain consensus in the room was, 'Let's just go out; let's try for it.'"

This spring, the Sabres are wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Winning is not a goal, it's a belief" written on the back with a strip of 16s (the number of victories needed to win theStanley Cup) running down the sleeves.



And maybe there is something to that.

The Sabres lost Jason Pominville to what appears to be a serious leg injury from a skatecut in the first period. He was seen leaving the arena on crutches, wearing a walking cast.

Defenseman Jordan Leopold missed time in the second period and then took a hooking penalty with less than three minutes to go in regulation.

The Sabres were outshot 15-5 in the second period when the Flyers cut the Sabres' 3-0lead to 3-2.

Throw in the fact that Buffalo wasn't able to close out Boston in last season's playoffseven though it had an early series lead, and who could blame the youthful Sabres if theysuffered from at least some niggling self-doubt, some sense that recent history would become their history, too.

"I have watched a lot of games, and there have been a lot of leads that have been lost,"

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. "You can go through a long list of games that even a two-goal lead is vanished. I think it is the desperation and the emotion that goes with it. All of a sudden, you are up by a couple and you have that tendency to play a little bit safer. Ithink if you are safe, then you are on the road to being dead in this league because theother team gets you on your heels.

"I thought [the Flyers] did a good job of that when they sensed a little bit of oil leakingout of our car in the second period."

But somehow the Sabres found a way to keep the Flyers' power play at bay -- they killedall five penalties Friday night and have limited the Flyers to two power-play goals on 26

opportunities in the series. Then, the Sabres took advantage of a good forecheck that ledto the winner.

"It was a good win for us, and we will enjoy it for the next five or 10 minutes and weknow they are going to be desperate," Sabres forward Thomas Vanek said of the Flyers."They are a good road team. They are going to throw everything at us, so our desperationhas to match it and be even greater."

Whether this game, those moments of weathering the storm, become part of a larger storywill be known only when and if the Sabres close out the Flyers. But if they do, they willremember the night they didn't follow the Hollywood script in Game 5 of the first round.

"It's something that's going to happen in playoffs. It's two months of hockey if you do itright," Miller said. "A lot of situations are going to come up. I'm proud of the way wehandled it."

27. ESPN.com – More drama for Flyers' goaltending carousel

Scott Burnside



PHILADELPHIA -- If we had not borne witness to last spring's remarkable goaliecarousel that carried the Philadelphia Flyers to the brink of a championship, thetemptation would be to write off this team right here and now.

Having gone through three goaltenders in five games, the Philadelphia Flyers once againface the never-ending question when it comes to the men who wear the masks in thistown:

What now?

Veteran Brian Boucher, who came on in relief of shaky rookie Sergei Bobrovsky inGame 2 of Philly's first-round series versus Buffalo, was lit up Friday night for threegoals on 11 shots before being pulled at 15:36 of the first period. None of the goals was particularly pretty, but the first two, by Tyler Ennis and Thomas Vanek, were ghastly.

Boucher was playing pass, and Ennis simply shot the puck on net from a bad angle and itsnuck through Boucher to give the Sabres a 1-0 lead just 2:24 into the game. Eighty-seven seconds later, Vanek somehow managed to get the puck past Boucher from behindthe goal line.

"I take full responsibility for it," the classy Boucher said as he stood surrounded byreporters after the game, answering question after question about his meltdown. "I put myteam behind the eight ball. It was on me. Those are goals that can't go in. Like I said, Itake full responsibility."

Michael Leighton replaced Brian Boucher at 15:36 of the first period in Friday's Game 5.That the Flyers stormed back to tie the game with backup Michael Leighton in net, onlyto lose 4-3 in overtime on Ennis' second goal of the game, might serve to cloud the team'sgoaltending issues. But where the Flyers' goaltending carousel stops now is the questionthat remains central to the team's short-term future, and beyond.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette described Boucher's outing Friday as an aberration.

"It's just a tough start, some funny goals and the way they went in," the coach said. "ButBrian Boucher has been a terrific player for us for the entire year. Even in this series, hecame in and he settled things down and gave us an opportunity to win some games. It was just an odd start."

The prevailing thought around the team is Laviolette will go back to Boucher for Sunday's Game 6 in Buffalo.

Leighton, playing in just his second NHL game of the season after being placed onwaivers and sent to the Flyers' minor league team in Adirondack this season, was fine inrelief, giving up just one goal (Ennis' overtime winner) on 21 shots.



But there was a reason Leighton was in the minors, and it was because the Flyers believed Bobrovsky and Boucher gave them the best chance to win. Or at least they diduntil they struggled down the stretch, and they chanced losing Leighton to another team by bringing him back through waivers so he could rejoin the club on the eve of the

playoffs.

As for Game 6, Leighton said he would like to play. But he also said Boucher "has done agreat job to get us in this situation and tonight was one of those nights where, for two of those goals, that guy could take a hundred shots in there and he might score one. So, it's atough bounce. We have confidence in him that he's going to bounce back and play a goodone in Buffalo."

A year ago, Laviolette had no choice when it came to his goaltending in the playoffs.With Ray Emery out and Leighton injured, Boucher started and beat New Jersey in thefirst round. Then, when Boucher got hurt in the conference semifinals, Leighton came

back and backstopped the Flyers during their seminal comeback against the Bruins.Leighton played the rest of the way, although Boucher did see action twice in the StanleyCup finals against Chicago when Leighton played poorly.

Now, of course, Laviolette has a choice.

Does he go back to Boucher, who helped right the ship in Game 2 of this series when itappeared Bobrovsky's nerves got the better of him? Or does he give Leighton the chanceto repeat his miracle return during the Boston series a year ago?

"I'm going to sleep on that and then probably give you nothing," Laviolette quipped."Business as usual."

Business as usual, indeed.

With Chris Pronger iffy to play in this series, as he has taken longer to return from a handinjury, and Jeff Carter not expected to be available for the foreseeable future with what is believed to be a knee injury, the Flyers are going to need much better from Boucher if they're going to stay alive. He is certainly hoping to get a chance to redeem himself.

"I would very much like to redeem myself," Boucher said. "Like I said, it was myresponsibility tonight. I take ownership in that. To put your team in a hole like that whenit's an important game, they didn't deserve that. I would like to get a second crack at it.We will see what happens."

If we hadn't seen with our own eyes how it all turned out last season, we'd say the Flyersare in big trouble.

28. TSN.ca – McKenzie – Flyers have shown they can still come back



Bob McKenzie

Some thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Friday night:

Philadelphia Flyers

Of the teams facing elimination, I feel the Philadelphia Flyers have the best chance of coming back and winning the series.

Are there questions about their goaltending? Absolutely. But is there any question thatthey have the character to come back?

Last year they were down 3-0 to the Boston Bruins in the series and they were down 3-0in Game 7 to the Bruins and managed to come back. They did the same thing in the gameon Friday, fighting back from a three-goal deficit, but ultimately fell short.

Buffalo is playing well, but I think that the Flyers have the best chance of any teamfacing elimination.

I also won't be surprised if Chris Pronger is back in the lineup for Game 6. If he is, itmakes a world of difference, even if he can't shoot the puck 100 percent.

Michael Leighton

Part of the reason Michael Leighton was recalled on re-entry waivers by the Flyers was in part because I don't think they had complete confidence in Sergei Bobrovsky becuase hestruggled so badly down the stretch. Now he's right out of the equation.

I think also there is not an overwhelming level of confidence in Brian Boucher and Ithink that Leighton has the chance to be the starter the next time out.

Tyler Ennis

The Buffalo Sabres need their rookies and unheralded guys to step up. Gragnani has beenleading the team in scoring, and he's a defenceman and a rookie.

Jason Pominville left the game in the first period, he took a skate blade to the leg. There'sno prognosis on him yet, but it doesn't look good.

Tim Connolly has gone 28 games without a goal. Derek Roy is injured and not in thelineup.

The Sabres are looking for other sources to generate offence.



29. Associated Press – Tyler Ennis scores in overtime, gives Sabres 4-3 victory over

Flyers and 3-2 series lead

Dan Gelston

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers had the stirring comeback.

The Sabres will take the win — and the shot at winning the playoff series at home.

Tyler Ennis scored off a rebound 5:31 into overtime Friday night to give Buffalo a 4-3victory over Flyers and a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.

Mike Webber set up the winner when he fired a slapper that knocked off MichaelLeighton's pad. Ennis swooped in from the right side and scored his second goal of the

game. The Sabres survived after blowing a 3-0 lead and can advance to the EasternConference semifinals with a victory in Game 6 on Sunday in Buffalo.

"All I know, is I wanted to score the winner," Ennis said. "I just wanted to be the guywho ended it."

Ennis opened the scoring in the first period, and Thomas Vanek and Marc-AndreGragnani also scored in the period to chase Flyers starting goalie Brian Boucher.Leighton, who led the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals a year ago, was flawless untilovertime.

James van Riemsdyk, Andrej Meszaros and Danny Briere scored for the Flyers.

The Flyers, the No. 2 seed in the East, are missing Jeff Carter and Chris Pronger and areon their third goalie of the series. Their biggest problem could come Sunday where theSabres are poised to send the defending Eastern Conference champions home for the off-season.

Ryan Miller made 36 saves for Buffalo.

Staked to the early lead, it seemed over for Flyers. Miller has two 1-0 victories in theseries and appeared to again stump the Flyers. Not for long.

After van Riemsdyk and Meszaros scored in the second, Briere stuck it to his former team when his backhander off a behind-the-net feed from Mike Richards made it 3-3.

The rally ended there.



Ennis pounded the winner past Leighton, who made only his second appearance for theFlyers this season.

"This is definitely a great place to play," Ennis said. "Any time you can silence the crowdlike that, it's an awesome feeling."

Stuck in a 3-0 hole, the Flyers felt at home.

After all, last season they trailed Boston 3-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals andwon the series. The Flyers won Game 7 after trailing 3-0.

"We can't hang our heads," Briere said. "We were in a worse position last year, so if there's a group of guys that can do it, I believe in this group here."

Like last year's Game 7 in Boston, van Riemsdyk who struck first.

With Miller a few feet in front of the crease, van Riemsdyk punched the puck in theempty net to end Miller's shutout streak.

Meszaros then scorched a liner from the point to make it 3-2.

Flyers fans busted out the derisive "Miller! Miller!" chants. The Flyers outshot the Sabres15-5 in the second and appeared in control.

Hard to believe considering the damage Buffalo inflicted in the first.

For the second time in the series, the Sabres chased a Flyers goalie after taking a 3-0 lead.In Game 2, it was rookie Sergei Bobrovsky. On Friday, Boucher was yanked after allowing three goals on 11 shots.

Leighton got the call, capping one of the improbable rides of any recent Flyer. He startedfor the Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals, signed a two-year deal in the summer, then hurthis back and spent all but one game in the minors.

Leighton played his first game in Philadelphia since a Jan. 21 start for the Adirondack Phantoms, the Flyers' American Hockey League affiliate.

Improbably, he'll likely start Game 6.

Boucher allowed two of the softest goals of the season only 1:27 apart early in the first.Ennis and Vanek scored after Boucher let the pucks knock off his leg and into the net.

Gragnani banked the puck off the post past a surprised Boucher on a power play for a 3-0lead late in the first and the Sabres were clearly in control.



That "Booooosh!" cheer that sounded so sweet in Game 2 certainly had a different spinwith the "sh" knocked off.

That was all for Boucher. Boucher knew he blew his shot to stick as the No. 1 goalie. Hewhacked a row of sticks with his goalie stick, kicked the sticks and tossed his helmet

inside the tunnel leading to the locker room.

"I'd very much like to redeem myself," Boucher said. "Like I said, it was myresponsibility tonight. I take ownership in that. To put your team in a hole like that, theydidn't deserve that."

Leighton stopped the final 18 shots in regulation and he might just yet bail out the Flyersagain in the playoffs.

As usual, coach Peter Laviolette refused to tip his hand.

The Flyers played without winger Carter and defenceman Pronger. Carter was knockedout of Game 4 after he hurt his right knee in a collision, and Pronger, who appeared closeto a return, is still out with a broken right hand.

The Sabres lost forward Jason Pominville and defenceman Jordan Leopold in the first period.

Pominville, who scored the only goal in Game 4, slammed down his stick and helmet andhopped on his right leg off the ice. He appeared to get sliced in the back of his leg after acollision in the corner of the Sabres' zone.

"It doesn't look too good for him," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We'll know more about thattomorrow."

Leopold, who did return, appeared to get cut across his chin and was splitting blood onthe bench.

In the post-season, a win always helps makes up for injuries.

"This puts a smile on your face as a coach," Ruff said.

NOTES: Leighton won his only start for the Flyers this season. ... A puck shattered a pane of glass during warmups.

30. Toronto Sun – Sabres take control with OT win

Mike Zeisberger



PHILADELPHIA, PA - It wouldn’t have been quite as crushing to the city’s psyche asWide Right or The Music City Miracle.

But had the Sabres lost Game 5 of this best-of-seven first-round series after building up a3-0 lead on the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night, it certainly would have ranked as one

of the top-10 lowest moments in Buffalo sports history.

Fortunately for the Sabres, Tyler Ennis would not let that happen.

Ennis saved the day for Lindy Ruff’s crew, draining a juicy rebound off the pads of Michael Leighton at 5:31 of overtime for his second goal of the game to give the Sabres adramatic 4-3 victory over the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center.

The win gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead in the series. More importantly, they have a chance tofinish off the Flyers with a victory in Game 6 on Sunday afternoon in Buffalo.

Ennis hadn’t even celebrated his second birthday yet when Bills kicker Scott Norwoodmissed his last second field goal attempt in Super Bowl XXV in 1991. And he was just10 when the Tennessee Titans’ Kevin Dyson gutted the Bills on the last play of a playoff game by taking a lateral off a kickoff and returning it all the way for the game-winningtouchdown.

More importantly, like many of the young Sabres, he probably doesn’t care about any of those things. Instead, he and his youthful teammate are trying to write their own history.

They got off to a good start on Friday night.

Asked what was going through his mind in the confines of the Sabres dressing roomheading into overtime after his squad had coughed up a three-goal advantage, Ennisreplied: “I really wanted to score the winner. I really did. I was excited.

“It’s fun to play here. It’s pretty crazy. So anytime you can silence the crowd here, it’s pretty special.”

The past week has seen some incredible comebacks in these 2011 NHL playoffs.

On Tuesday, the San Jose Sharks overcame a 4-0 deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Kings6-5 in overtime. One night later, the Washington Capitals wiped out a 3-0 New York Rangers lead with three third-period goals before winning it in overtime.

On Friday night, with the Philly fans going bonkers, the Flyers looked to do the same,getting goals from James Van Riemsdyk, Andrej Meszaros and Danny Briere in the final40 minutes to erase an early three-goal Buffalo advantage.

But Ennis was not about to let the good citizens of Buffalo suffer through yet another collapse.



“I don’t really know why all these leads are being lost in all these series,” Ruff said. “I just think teams are playing with desperation. If you try to play safe, the opposition cansmell blood and starts coming at you hard.

“If there was one guy who deserved to score, it was Ennis. The way he and the youngguys played was enough to put a smile on a coach’s face.

“He was tremendous.”

The same could not be said for Flyers starting goalie Brian Boucher, who was awful.Both Ennis and Thomas Vanek banked bad-angle shots in off Boucher before the gamewas even four minutes old. And when Marc-Andre Gragnani’s shot from the high slotsomehow slipped through Boucher later in the first, he was yanked in favour of Leighton.

Yes, that’s the same Leighton who helped the Flyers march all the way to the Stanley

Cup final a year ago.Like in so many years past, the Flyers goaltending situation is a mess. Sergei Bobrovskygot the hook in Game 2. The same happened to Boucher on Friday night.

So, who starts in Game 6?

“I’m going to sleep on it,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “Then, tomorrow, I’m not goingto tell you.”

For the Flyers, whose season will come to a disappointing end with one more loss, thereis no tomorrow.

Buffalo Sabres Articles

1. Buffalo News – Ennis nets overtime winner for Sabres

John Vogl

PHILADELPHIA -- Tyler Ennis gets a lot of credit for having poise, for being one of those young guys who are mature beyond their years. He let loose Friday night and had a blast acting like a kid.

Ennis dreamed big and jumped high, celebrating his overtime winner that pushed theBuffalo Sabres past Philadelphia, 4-3. The Game Five victory gave the Sabres a 3-2series lead, and they can close out the Flyers during an Easter Sunday matinee in HSBCArena.

"We can celebrate this for about 20 more minutes, and then we've got to focus on the nextone because we've got one more," said Ennis, who partied hard during the time allowed.



Ennis' exuberance started prior to overtime. He was already picturing the victorycelebration. He'd seen enough OT playoff games growing up to know the goal-scorer getsall the attention. As he sat through intermission, he knew he wanted to be that guy.

"I think everyone was really excited," Ennis said. "I know I was. I haven't been in too

many NHL overtime games. I know I just really wanted to score the winner. I just wantedto be that guy to score it."

With 5:31 gone in overtime, Ennis saw a rebound pop right to him. He saw the goal lightignite. He saw his teammates rushing to mob him. He jumped like a kid who just openedhis favorite Christmas present.

"I was pretty excited," the 21-year-old said. "In my junior days I was known to celebrate pretty hard after goals. I've kind of been a little tame, but when it's a big goal like this,you've got to elevate. You've got to get off that ice.

"It's unreal. It's the best feeling. Sometimes when you score a goal you like to see how

the bench reacts. It gives you a boost. When you can get everybody off the bench likethat, it's a great feeling."

Mike Weber and Steve Montador were already on the ice to celebrate. Just after Rob Niedermayer kept the puck in the Philly zone, Montador chipped the puck along the blueline to Mike Weber. Goaltender Michael Leighton got a pad on the point shot, but Ennisdrove down the right side to bury the rebound.

"I knew Webby was shooting, so I was just hoping he would kick it to me," Ennis said."When I saw it there, I was pretty excited. It was an awesome feeling when it went in."

Folks thought the series couldn't have been tighter through four games. Then came GameFive. The Sabres opened a 3-0 lead, but the Flyers stormed back to tie the game.

The Sabres' early dominance disappeared when Jason Pominville did. The right winger suffered a lacerated left leg when stepped on with a skate late in the first period. Hereportedly was seen after the game with crutches and a walking boot that went up abovethe knee.

"We'll have more probably [Saturday], but it doesn't look too good," Sabres coach LindyRuff said.

The short-handed Sabres could only attempt to hold on against the shark-like Flyers, who

sensed the blood and circled repeatedly in an attempt to get the edge in the series.

"It was a little [closer] than it should have been, but all that matters is we got the win,"Sabres defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani said.

Things couldn't have started better for the Sabres. They scored the first three goals in15:36, sent goalie Brian Boucher to the bench and had the Philly fans stunned.



Boucher allowed goals to Ennis and Thomas Vanek that had no business going in duringthe opening 3:51. After Gragnani scored on a power-play blast to give Buffalo a 3-0 lead,Flyers coach Peter Laviolette summoned Boucher to the bench.

Leighton became the third Philadelphia netminder in the series. Boucher replaced playoff

starter Sergei Bobrovsky in Game Two. Leighton had it easy until overtime."We knew we just had to get shots on this guy," Weber said. "We hadn't tested him verymuch in the second or third. We got a lucky one there with Enzo going to the net, and itfeels pretty good."

The Sabres' good fortune turned with 3:09 left in the first. Pominville was bumped in thecorner, tried skating then abruptly tossed his gloves and stick in the air. He lifted his leftleg, coasted to the bench and hopped to the dressing room, reportedly screaming in painwith a bloody leg.

Buffalo, which lost defenseman Jordan Leopold with 6:14 left in the first with an upper-

body ailment, opened the second with just 16 skaters.

The Flyers opened with 12 of the first 13 shots to pull within a goal and get the 19,959fans believing again.

"They come hard," Ennis said. "If you kind of sit back and let them create off the rush,they're going to be dominant. We're both good teams, and sometimes momentum shiftslike that. I expect momentum shifts every game, so we just have to limit how long theyhave the momentum for."

The momentum for Philly continued into the third period. Danny Briere tied the game

with 3:36 gone. Sabres goalie Ryan Miller wasn't beaten again, finishing with 36 savesand setting up Ennis for his dream sequence.

"This is why we play the game," Gragnani said. "The NHL playoffs, overtime on theroad. Maybe just being at home beats the feeling with your own fans celebrating, butwe'll take it. We're looking forward to Sunday."

2. Buffalo News – Sabres survive despite being short-handed

Mike Harrington

PHILADELPHIA -- The Buffalo Sabres were saved by the bell when the second periodended Friday night. They spent most of the middle frame on their heels and playing withtwo men missing from the bench, as they were dealing with the Philadelphia Flyers'onslaught as well as injuries to Jason Pominville and Jordan Leopold.

"That was a tough second," winger Drew Stafford said after the 4-3 overtime victory."[The Flyers] got a lot of momentum after the two penalties we took and we couldn't get



any of it back, especially when they started scoring. We got out of the second period,regrouped and stuck with it all the way through overtime."

Pominville left for good with about three minutes left in the first period after taking whatappeared to be a severe cut with a skate on the left leg.

Leopold took a puck to the face and needed several stitches. He missed more than a full period of action, leaving the ice with 5:51 left in the first period and not returning untilthere was 6:44 left in the second. He played just four shifts and 2:21 of the second period.

"I really felt that hurt us," said coach Lindy Ruff. "One guy [Leopold] is getting sewn upand obviously we lost Pommer, which is a big loss."

"We just said, 'Keep playing,'" added winger Thomas Vanek. "We shuffled the lines andwhoever played with whoever. We just said to skate, work hard and to just play."

Stafford, like most in the locker room, said he didn't see what happened to Pominville

until he hopped to the bench and burst down the tunnel to the dressing room.

"No matter what happened to him, he's out and he's a huge part of our team, our offense,our defense and special teams," Stafford said. "So we just hope for the best."

Pominville's loss was felt even more because the Sabres got nailed with three second- period penalties, including a delay of game call on Rob Niedermayer that gave the Flyersa two-man advantage for nine seconds. Philly finished 0 for 5 on the power play.

"Anytime you lose guys, it's not a good situation -- especially when they're penalty killersand we're killing," Vanek said. "It puts us short-handed but we had other guys to step up."

"That was such a battle, especially with them coming back," Stafford said. "Weweathered their storm coming out at home at the start and got it going."

With Leopold out, Chris Butler played 10:07 in the middle period and Tyler Myers played 9:34. Myers and Butler led the Sabres in ice time at 27:48 and 26:34, respectively.Marc-Andre Gragnani saw 22:33.

Paul Gaustad (22:42) and Tim Connolly (22:34) led the forwards in ice time and theSabres went with mostly three lines minus Pominville, dropping Mike Grier (9:15) andCody McCormick (5:53) out of the rotation.

The penalty time hurt Vanek, who played just 8:13 over the first 40 minutes beforeending at 16:17.

"We knew after the first they were going to push," Vanek said. "That's a good team. Theyhave a lot of good goalscorers and playmakers. We stayed composed on the bench anddidn't get down on ourselves. We kept working hard and in the third period we threwsome good looks at them."



"It was a good win for us," winger Thomas Vanek said. "We'll enjoy it for five or 10minutes. We know they're going to be really desperate. They're a good road team, andthey're going to throw everything at us."

The series is far from over, but the Flyers are running out of answers. Coach Peter

Laviolette trotted out AHL goon Zac Rinaldo after watching his team get pushed around.

Rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky was chased in Game Two. Brian Boucher was giventhe hook Friday after allowing three goals on 11 shots and basically handing Buffalo thevictory. Leighton relieved Boucher and surrendered the big rebound for the winner.

OK, now what?

Boucher had been superb in a pair of victories and the Game Four loss. He led playoff goalies in goals-against average (1.45) and save percentage (.954) going into the fifthgame, but he also remained a source of their potential demise. There was a sense he

couldn't be trusted for an entire series.If anything, the Sabres should have been throwing more shots on net over the first threegames with the idea somebody could pounce on a loose puck. The difference Friday wasthat Boucher didn't give up many bad rebounds. He was too busy coughing up terriblegoals.

Ennis wasn't looking to score while skating down the left wing and sending a wrist shottoward the net from below the circle. The puck bounced off Boucher's left knee andslipped past the goal line. Vanek kept that in mind when he found himself behind the goalline later in the period. Vanek flipped a wrist shot that found a hole.

It was almost too easy.

If the Sabres needed a reminder how quickly big leads can disappear in the Stanley Cup playoffs, they could have checked the highlights over the past few days. The New York Rangers had a 3-0 lead over the Capitals before losing in overtime. Los Angeles had a 4-0 lead before falling in OT.

Philadelphia didn't reach the Stanley Cup final by accident last season. The Flyers came back from a 3-0 series deficit before beating Boston in the conference finals. And theyhad plenty of time remaining after Leighton replaced Boucher. Sure enough, the Flyersstormed back with two goals in the second period.

And the Sabres, in total command early, were reeling.

In a close series, the team with more talent usually finds a way to win. Philly was better than Buffalo is every category except goal, but they also had a big-game player, Briere,that the Sabres knew all too well. Briere has more postseason points than anyone sincethe lockout, and he tied the game in the third period.



It came down to one shot. Ennis answered the call and delivered a message along theway.

"We knew somebody was going to be a hero," Weber said. "It was great to see [Ennis]

get it."

4. Buffalo News – Sabres vs. Flyers, Game Five / Breaking down the game

John Vogl

The big picture: The Sabres are one win away from heading to the NHL's second roundfor the first time since 2007. Tyler Ennis' overtime winner allowed the Sabres to leavePhiladelphia celebrating a wild victory instead of lamenting a blown three-goal lead.HSBC Arena will be the place to be Easter Sunday.

Turning point: The Sabres suffered a population drain late in the first period, with JasonPominville suffering a game-ending leg laceration. The good vibe of their 3-0 lead wentwith him, and the Flyers took over, tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Player of the game: Ennis knew his time was coming. He created chances the previoustwo games, and the rookie knew he'd start burying them. He buried two, and now theSabres have a chance to bury the Flyers.

It's one, two, three strikes you're out?: The Sabres have sent Philly scrambling to its thirdgoaltender. Michael Leighton entered during the first period to replace an ineffective

Brian Boucher, who replaced an ineffective Sergei Bobrovsky.

No love for the zebras: The referees are obviously Public Enemy No. 2 in Philly behindthe Sabres. The men in stripes were jeered loudly the instant they stepped onto the iceand were subject to a derogatory chant during the first period.

Young love: The Sabres got three goals from rookies, with Ennis scoring twice andMarc-Andre Gragnani adding one.

Counting the house: The 19,959 fans did it all. They booed. They cheered. They satsilent. They stood and roared. Ennis made them all shut up.

He said it: "I just really wanted to score the winner. I just wanted to be that guy to scoreit." Ennis on his dressing room thoughts between the third period and overtime.

Next: Game Six is 3 p.m. Sunday (NBC) in HSBC Arena.

5. Buffalo News – 30 seconds of playoff joy



T.J. Pignataro

Father and son from Austria, hoping to see national hero Thomas Vanek play, only sawlast 30 seconds of Game Four

Alois and Thomas Lindner missed all but 30 seconds of the Sabres' win over the Flyerson Wednesday night, but they still might be the happiest Sabres fans around.

It's even more likely that no one traveled farther to the game than they did.

The father-son tandem came to Buffalo from Austria this week to soak in the atmospherein HSBC Arena and to catch a glimpse of their favorite hockey player and their nationalhero, Thomas Vanek.

They started mapping their overseas trip April 8, the day the Sabres, clinched a playoff spot.

When the league released its playoff schedule a few days later, the Lindners knew theyhad a date in Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. April 20 for Game 4 of the Eastern ConferenceQuarterfinal series between the Sabres and Philadelphia Flyers.

Easy enough.

But American planes often do not run like the German trains they're used to.

The Lindners' 4:30 p.m. flight Wednesday from Newark to Buffalo was delayed 70minutes when their plane was stuck in Burlington, Vt., due to weather. Then, another 80.And, still another half-hour. By then, it was 7:40 p.m.

So while Philadelphia's Blair Betts was battling Buffalo's Tim Connolly for the openingfaceoff, the Lindners were on a runway in Newark.

By the time their flight touched down in Buffalo, the third period was already under way.

"We threw money -- 10s, 20s -- at the taxi driver saying 'Take us to the hockey game, weneed to go now,'" said Thomas Lindner, who was seeing Vanek in-person for the firsttime.

There were minutes to go when they arrived at HSBC Arena and Thomas Lindner

snapped a photograph of the Jumbotron when they got to their seats. It read: 30.8seconds, giving a whole new meaning to the idea of a last-minute trip.

"We were running in here [when the taxi dropped us off]. We were like 'Where is[section] 103?'" Lindner said. "We only came for the hockey game and we missed thegame."



But even 30 seconds of playoff hockey was enough of a thrill for the Lindners to readjusttheir schedule in an effort to attend Game Six on Sunday.

"I was so overwhelmed by the atmosphere," said Thomas Lindner, already decked out inhis new Thomas Vanek jersey that he bought after the game at the Sabres store. "We

were looking out for Number 26."The Lindners built a two-week trip around Game 4 that also saw them tour the WhiteHouse earlier Wednesday -- they were on time for that -- and has them visiting Torontoand New York City after a stint here.

The Lindners were guests of Buffalo residents David Straitiff and Pam Timby, who metThomas Lindner during a trip to Berlin, Germany last fall. They met at a Berlin Hyatthotel where Lindner works and struck up a friendship after "Buffalo" came up inconversation.

"I was actually hoping for -- and, it's so hard to say -- overtime as long as [the Sabres]

were the last to score," admitted Straitiff, who kept in contact with the Lindners' progress-- or, lack thereof Ñ to Buffalo before and during Wednesday's game.

After the game, the friends wandered the empty concourse of the arena in search of Thomas Vanek's wall mural for several photographs.

Vanek, a first-round draft pick by the Sabres, is a reliable 30-goal scorer to local Sabresfans but beloved by Austrians. When the Sabres took Vanek fifth overall in 2003 out of the University of Minnesota, he became the highest-drafted Austrian in NHL history.

"He's a hero in Austria," said Alois Lindner, an avid hockey fan who lives near Salzburg,

where Vanek grew up. "Austrian ice hockey fans are so proud he has become such a good player."

Vanek's exploits in Buffalo have gotten plenty of attention back home. While playingcollegiate hockey for the University of Minnesota, Vanek earned MVP honors at theFrozen Four tournament held in the Queen City in 2003, leading the Golden Gophers tothe national title.

He netted his 200th goal earlier this month in a regular season game in Washington andscored two goals in Game 2 in the current series against the Flyers.

One thing could top all of this, according to the Lindners: Thomas Vanek hoisting the

Stanley Cup in Austria.

6. Olean Times Herald – Ennis' two goals key Sabres' wild overtime win

Bill Hoppe



PHILADELPHIA – As Tyler Ennis watched Mike Weber’s point blast bounce off goalieMichael Leighton’s pad in overtime, the rookie’s eyes got big.

“Real big,” the speedy Buffalo Sabres winger said.

Ennis had scored earlier against the Flyers, his first of the wildly entertaining EasternConference quarterfinal. That was just 2:24 into the game Friday, though, about threehours and three games ago.

In between, the Sabres built a 3-0 lead, collapsed and settled down again for the extrasession.

“I just really wanted to score the winner,” Ennis said. “I just wanted to be the guy toscore it.”

The likable 21-year-old got his wish, burying Leighton’s juicy rebound near the right

circle at 5:21.“I saw it pop out,” Ennis said after the Sabres’ dramatic 4-3 overtime triumph. “I justtried to get to the net. I knew Webby was shooting it. I was just hoping that he wouldkick it to me. When I saw it there, I was pretty excited. It’s an awesome feeling.”

The Sabres lead the tight best-of-seven series 3-2. They can eliminate the Flyers onSunday in Game 6 at HSBC Arena.

A bit of an emotional roller coaster, huh, Tyler?

“Yeah, seriously,” he said.

The Sabres received some bad news, however, as they lost winger Jason Pominville, oneof their top scorers and best all-around players, to a potentially devastating injury.

About 17 minutes into the game, Pominville went innocently into the corner with a Flyer,skated out and then apparently felt his injury. Pominville immediately threw off hisgloves, stick and quickly skated to bench putting without putting pressure on his left foot.It’s possible he suffered a sliced tendon.

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said he would know more today.

“It doesn’t look too good,” Ruff said.

Still, the mood was jovial in the dressing room and during press conferences. Another win and the Sabres will advance to the second round for the first time since 2007.

The Sabres, a team filled with youngsters, had weathered a fierce storm inside theraucous Wells Fargo Center.



“It puts a smile on your face as a coach because I thought Ennis was tremendoustonight,” Ruff said. “You are going to one of the toughest buildings and one of theloudest to play in. That kid (Ennis) played fearless and hard and started from the firstshift.

“If anyone deserved the game-winning goal,” he said, “it would probably be him, but our young guys have to be given credit because they haven’t been in this situation before.”

The NHL, a league in which scoring is at a premium and leads are often safe, has a slewof huge comebacks in the opening round.

Why?

“I don’t know,” Ruff said. “I’ve watched a lot of games. There’s been a lot of leads thathave been lost. … You can go through a long list of games where even a two-goal lead

has vanished on a lot of teams. I think it’s the desperation. I think it’s the emotion thatgoes.

“All of a sudden, you’re up by a couple and you have that tendency just to be a little bitsafer,” he said. “If you’re safe, you’re on the road to being dead in this league becauseevery team gets you on your heels.”

Two days after a dramatic home 1-0 home win, the Sabres put the Flyers on their heelsearly.

Ennis opened the scoring, first beating Nikolay Zherdev down the left wing, and thengoalie Brian Boucher almost level with the goal line.

It turned out to be a harbinger.

At 3:51, Boucher allowed another cheap goal, this time to Thomas Vanek, who knockeda shot in off the inside of his left pad from below the goal line.

Marc-Andre Gragnani’s four-on-three score from the right circle at 15:36, set up withsome nifty passing, ended Boucher’s night after only eight saves.

Enter Leighton, the Flyers’ third goalie this series.

Then in the second period, charged up by the capacity crowd of 19,959 fans, the Flyersabruptly turned the tables, dominating the Sabres.

Goals from James van Riemsdyk and Andrej Meszaros 1:45 apart almost halfwaythrough gave the Flyers life.



Daniel Briere, whose clutch postseason heroics are legendary, tied it 3:36 into the third period, nearly blowing the roof off the arena. The former Sabres star now 38 goals and 90 points in 90 postseason games.

“They could smell blood in the water,” said Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, who made 36

stops. “They went for it. I think we slowly turned things in the game.”

Once the Sabres settled down, they regained some momentum when they killeddefenseman Jordan Leopold’s late hooking penalty.

Leopold left the game for about a period earlier to receive some stitches.

7. Olean Times Herald – Sabres’ Boyes trying to recapture post trade form

Bill HoppePHILADELPHIA – The shine certainly wore off Brad Boyes quickly. The BuffaloSabres’ $4 million deadline acquisition is struggling, goalless in his last 16 contests. Thecenter hasn’t scored in 35 days. He’s pointless this postseason.

What happened to the guy who tallied five times in his first 10 contests?

Boyes’ late-February arrival from St. Louis loudly signaled owner Terry Pegula meant business, the team would pay good money for proven veterans. The 29-year-oldimmediately rewarded the Sabres, recapturing an elite form reminiscent of his 43-goalcampaign in 2007-08.

Now he’s mostly been skating between Mike Grier and Cody McCormick, two solid-yet-unspectacular checkers, in the Sabres’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. Boyesmoved the right wing beside Rob Niedermayer and Tyler Ennis on Friday after JasonPominville left, however.

“There’s a lot of things that I think about and go through my head, trying to findanswers,” Boyes said Friday prior the Sabres’ dramatic 4-3 overtime win against Flyersin Game 5 at the Wells Fargo Center. “I don’t know if there’s one specific one. I’ve battled through before. I try not to worry about it.”

The move to the middle has clearly hurt him. While Boyes played center until his rookieseason in 2005-06, he developed into a slick NHL scorer as a left winger. He’s excellentat pulling the trigger down low near the circle.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been in the middle,” Boyes said. “(I’ve) adjusted to it a little bit. I feel fairly good down there. Definitely there’s responsibilities, but that offense hasto be there and you have to produce.



“You go through ups and downs,” he said. “This isn’t a good time to be in a funk. Butwe’ve got other guys that can score and are playing well. When they get into trouble, thenit’s my cue to step up and score.”

Injuries forced Boyes to center shortly after he arrived. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff has said

Boyes is a better winger and he wants him back there. Right now, though, he can’t movehim, at least permanently.

“There is no other option right now,” Ruff said recently.

With Jochen Hecht (upper body) and Derek Roy (torn quadriceps) out, the Sabres arewoefully thin down the middle. Other than No. 1 pivot Tim Connolly, the Sabres’ other centers are McCormick, Paul Gaustad and Niedermayer. Only Gaustad cracked the 30- point mark during the regular season.

Ruff defended Boyes earlier this week, saying he would “get it done.” He’s clearly grown

frustrated, though.“I don’t run around looking for excuses for lack of production,” Ruff said Fridaymorning. “I just think there’s opportunities that have presented themselves that he hasn’ttaken advantage of, whether you’re playing wing or center.

“Once you’re in the offensive zone, you’re not a winger and you’re not a centerman,” hesaid. “You’re a player.”

Early in the Sabres’ 1-0 win Wednesday in Buffalo, Boyes put his own rebound off the post in close. He’s getting closer to scoring his first goal since March 19.

“The last couple games were a lot better,” Ruff said. “He’s in on opportunities. Theopportunities he gets on special teams are ones he has to take advantage of. I thought theone play he hit the post, those are the type of goals he scores.”

Boyes will score again. But he has only 31 goals in 175 games since he scored 33 in2008-09. The decline has been steep. One year is left on his deal. He can only hope hemoves back to the wing soon.

“There’s a lot of things that I think about and go through my head, trying to findanswers,” Boyes said. “I don’t know if there’s one specific one. I’ve battled through before. I try not to worry about it. Sometimes thinking too much isn’t the greatest thing.”

8. Olean Times Herald – Laviolette laughs off Ruff’s comments

Bill Hoppe



PHILADELPHIA – The day after Buffalo Sabres coach Lindy Ruff told the Flyers tostop “whining” several times, his counterpart laughed off the comments.

“We thought it was funny,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said Friday prior to the Sabres’4-3 overtime win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal. “One of the coaches

did a little spoof on it in the coach’s office. He took out the word ‘whining’ and put in‘winning.’ It was pretty funny. We don’t get involved in too much of that talk. But it isfunny. We had a good time with it.”

Mike Richards’ allegation the Sabres got away with “murder” in their 1-0 winWednesday angered Ruff, who also called the captain’s words “a bunch of crap” onThursday. Richards was penalized five minutes for elbowing Patrick Kaleta in the head.

Ruff refused to back down, though, passionately saying Richards’ comments motivatedthe Sabres.

“That really fired us up,” Ruff said inside the Wells Fargo Center. “That’s what I think.… The motivation we got is when you heard the phrase, ‘They’re getting away withmurder.’ That was our motivation.”

xxx

Injured Flyers stars Chris Pronger and Jeff Carter will miss the rest of the series,according to CSNPhilly.com.

Pronger was reportedly set to return from his broken right hand in Game 5. The franchisedefenseman skated again Friday morning, staying out on the ice late and even taking slapshots.

The Flyers have said nothing about his status. CSN reported he’s still experiencing pain.He hasn’t played since March 8.

Carter, meanwhile, has a severely sprained MCL ligament in his right knee and iswearing a brace, CSN reported. The scoring center collided with Sabres defensemanTyler Myers on Wednesday.

With Carter out, the Flyers gave tough guy Zac Rinaldo his first NHL game. The 20-year-old center had 331 penalty minutes in 60 games with AHL Adirondack.

xxx

Sabres center Jochen Hecht, out since March 29, skated with his teammates prior toGame 5, his first practice in weeks.

“Jochen feels good,” Ruff said. “He’s skating now. Hopefully, in the next day or so hecan get involved in full practices.”



Defenseman Andrej Sekera (upper body) also skated. He last appeared Saturday.

The Sabres also scratched goalie Patrick Lalime (healthy), winger Mark Mancari(healthy) and defensemen Shaone Morrisonn (undisclosed) and Dennis Persson (healthy).

xxx

Ruff was asked Friday morning if he had told center Tim Connolly, whose penchant for passing is legendary, to, “Shoot. The. Puck.”

“I think I used that exact phrase last night when I talked to him,” Ruff said.

Entering Friday, Connolly had zero goals and eight shots in the series.

Adirondack Phantoms Articles

1. Glens Falls Post-Star – Leighton, Rinaldo play in Flyers loss

Tim McManus

Earlier in the day Friday it appeared that Ben Holmstrom was going to make his playoff debut for the Flyers in Game 5 against the Sabres. Instead, the Flyers threw us all ashocking curve as it was Zac Rinaldo instead who made his NHL debut in a 4-3 overtimeloss to Buffalo.

Rinaldo took about three shifts (1:56 of ice time) and looked good. He wore 51 and threwthree hits, including two good ones on his first shift. He also rocked an amazing hat thatlooked like it came from a Dr. Dre video as he sat next to Flyers captain Mike Richardsin the pregame dressing room. After Rinaldo’s season ended with two straight ejectionsin the first period, I was shocked to see him dress.

But the big story was Michael Leighton. Playing his first NHL game since Jan. 3, hecame in relief in the first period with the Flyers down 3-0. He stopped the first 20 shotshe saw, extending his combined scoreless streak from the Phantoms to 3 hours, 4 minutesand 31 seconds. That included parts of 11 periods: the end of the third period againstAlbany on April 1, shutouts against Syracuse and Rochester, and parts of four periodsFriday night.

It didn’t end well, though. The Flyers failed to clear the zone, Leighton left a big reboundon a shot, and Tyler Ennis cleaned it up. He didn’t control the rebound well, but I’d pinthe loss on a lot of things before him: the 0-3 hole, the 0 for 4 power play, including onelate in the third when it was tied, or the failure to clear the zone that led to the gamewinner.



NHL Article s

1. ESPN.com – Coyotes sign Brett Hextall to contract

Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Phoenix Coyotes signed North Dakota junior forward BrettHextall to an entry-level contract Friday.

Hextall, the 23-year-old son of former NHL goalie Ron Hextall, had 13 goals, 16 assistsand 63 penalty minutes in 39 games this past season for the Fighting Sioux. In 115 gamesin three seasons at North Dakota, he had 39 goals, 42 assists and 242 penalty minutes.

Phoenix drafted the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Hextall, from Manhattan Beach, Calif., in thesixth round in 2008.

Hextall's grandfather, Bryan Hextall Jr.; great grandfather, Bryan Hextall Sr.; and greatuncle, Dennis Hextall, also played in the NHL.

Phoenix was swept by Detroit in the first round of the playoffs.

2. ESPN.com – Isles to keep Evgeni Nabokov's rights

ESPN.com news services

The New York Islanders will toll Evgeni Nabokov's one-year, $570,000 contract,retaining the disgruntled goalie's rights for the 2011-12 season, GM Garth Snow told Newsday on Friday.

"He was signed by Detroit, put on waivers," Snow told Newsday. "We claimed him andhe didn't report. Therefore, we had to suspend him and it's within our right to toll thecontract."

Snow told Newsday that the team hadn't filed the request yet, but according to the paper,the Islanders have until July 1 to officially file with the league.

Both Nabokov's agent and NHL deputy commissioner told Newsday they were aware of the Islanders' plans.

Nabokov signed a one-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings in January after spending part of the season with SKA St. Petersburg of the Russian KHL.



However, the NHL's collective bargaining agreement states that anyone who plays in a professional league before signing an NHL contract must clear waivers.

Once he signed his one-year deal with the Red Wings, he became available to theIslanders.

When Nabokov refused to report to the Islanders, the team suspended him.

With three goalies in tow for the '11-12 season, the move would allow the Islanders tofinally trade Nabokov. After the suspension, the team was unable to move him until theseason ended.

"If we were to entertain something like that it would be after the playoffs," Snow told Newsday. "The phase we're in right now is that we just finished up our exit meetings andwe have to go through scouts meeting and look at any avenue to make the team better."

In order to keep the former San Jose Shark active, the Islanders gave Nabokov permission to play for Russia in this year's world championships. However, a source told Newsday that the team did so only with Nabokov's written assurance that he would notfile a grievance with the NHLPA over the extension of the contract.

3. TSN.ca – Coyotes clean out lockers unsure if they'll return to desert

Associated Press

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The curtains at Jobing.com Arena are all pulled back, revealing17,000 empty seats and concrete where the ice once was.

Behind the benches, deep within the inner workings of the quiet arena, Phoenix's playersclean out their lockers, go through season-ending physicals, meet with the coaches andfront office staff.

After a second straight season of adversity and a disappointing sweep out of the playoffs by Detroit, the Coyotes have nothing left to do but wait.

And there's no games, no practices to take their mind off the ownership situation. Justfacing the reality that the franchise could move from the desert in the next few weeks andthere's nothing they can do about it.

"It's a hard time of the year, regardless. It's no fun," Coyotes captain Shane Doan saidFriday. "It changes everything, especially when you don't win. It's one of those things; it'sa tough time of the year and with everything going on, it adds to it. You wish you werestill playing."

A lot is riding on what happens next.



Strapped by the financial constraints of being run by the NHL the past two seasons, theCoyotes need to get the ownership issue resolved before they can move ahead withanything financial.

Phoenix had a couple of solid signings in the off-season by adding veteran Ray Whitneyand Eric Belanger, but couldn't hold onto defenceman Zbynek Michalek or centreMatthew Lombardi. The financial situation also hampered the franchise at the tradedeadline, leaving the Coyotes essentially as minor players.

Phoenix needs to get the ownership issues resolved before getting too deep into the off-season. Goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, a cornerstone of the franchise, is an unrestricted free agentwho'll likely have plenty of high-dollar offers that the Coyotes will need to match.

The team also would like to lock up breakout star Keith Yandle, keep young left winger Lauri Korpikoski and a handful of other players, not to mention securing contracts with

coaches and finish off an affiliate deal that's been put on hold for months."It's something that needs to be resolved for us to go forward," Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said. "To have a strong, winning organization, you need to have strongleadership from the top. We're going to get it."

The Coyotes are hoping to get a resolution in the next few weeks.

Potential owner Michael Hulsizer has the framework of a deal in place to buy thefranchise and keep it in the desert, but a lawsuit threatened by the conservative Goldwater Institute has put it on hold. Hulsizer joined a meeting between the City of Glendale andofficials from Goldwater on Thursday in hopes of getting a deal worked out, though thesides don't seem any closer to a resolution.

Until they do, the off-season to-do list gets put on hold.

"There's a ton of issues that need to be worked out in time, but right now it's kind of aholding pattern," coach Dave Tippett said.

Once the deal is done, whichever way it goes, one of the top priorities will be to signBryzgalov.

He went through some streaky stretches during the regular season and wasn't at his bestin the playoffs, allowing 18 goals in the four games against Detroit. Still, he was a VezinaTrophy finalist a season ago and is the key to Phoenix's defensive-minded approach;when he plays well, the Coyotes often play well.

Bryzgalov has bristled at the idea of going to Winnipeg, one of the cities the Coyoteshave been rumoured to be going to, saying if he's going someplace cold, he might rather head back to his native Russia. A goalie's preference for where he plays isn't likely to



affect the ownership situation, but it could have a huge impact on the future of thefranchise, wherever it ends up.

"We've been here for four years and I love this place," Bryzgalov said. "It's a great placeto live, it's a great place to play, but there's nothing I can do. My hands are tied."

Though the rest of the Coyotes weren't quite as adamant as their goalie about Winnipeg, pretty much all of them agree that they want to stay in Phoenix.

There's also a nice foundation for the team.

After missing the playoffs six previous years, the Coyotes put together their two bestregular seasons, setting a franchise record with 50 wins and 107 points last year to gowith 99 points this season, second-highest in team history.

Bryzgalov, if he returns, is among the best goalies in the league when he's playing well,

Doan can still be a physical presence at 34 -- just ask the Red Wings -- Yandle developedinto an all-star and there's a host of solid young players behind them.

The franchise appears to be headed in the right direction. It's just the players don't knowwhere it's going to take them.

"Nobody knows what's going on," Yandle said. "None of the players, even themanagement knows what's going on. It's a tough day. Even if you know you're coming back, it's still a tough day. Hopefully, things will work out and we'll be in this samelocker room next year."

4. TSN.ca – Coyotes netminder Bryzgalov says he won't go to Winnipeg

TSN.ca Staff

If the Phoenix Coyotes end up moving to Winnipeg, at least one member of the club hasno interest in heading north.

Free agent to be, Ilya Bryzgalov, who has spent the better part of four seasons with theCoyotes, doesn't seem keen on the potential move.

"You don't want to go to Winnipeg, right?" Bryzgalov told Sun Media on Wednesday."Not many people live there, not many Russian people there. Plus it's cold. There's noexcitement except the hockey.

No park, no entertaining for the families, for the kids. It's going to be tough life for your family."



Bryzgalov, who says he's only been to Winnipeg once or twice during his minor hockeydays, figures that if he's going to play in a cold climate it might as well be closer to home,and he likely won't entertain a new contract offer from the club if it moves.

"Probably not," the 30-year-old Russian said. "I better go to somewhere in Russia, KHL,

to be honest, because KHL is Russian people, its family, friends."

Bryzgalov, who wasn't on his game during the Coyotes' sweep at the hands of the DetroitRed Wings, wants the team to find a way to stay in Glendale.

"I hope team's going to stay," Bryzgalov told the Sun. "It's such a nice area and such nice place to play hockey."

– FLYERS –

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