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David DeSharnais broke the tie, scoring from close range on a feed from Emelin with 3:11 remaining.

The Flyers came roaring back in the third period.

Philadelphia Inquirer / Daily News LOADED: 04.04.2013

667888 Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers rally for third straight win

Posted: Thursday, April 4, 2013 12:00 am | Updated: 5:38 am, Thu Apr 4, 2013.

By Wayne Fish Staff writer

PHILADELPHIA — Another night, another resilient effort by the suddenly no-quit Flyers.

Down by a goal with just a handful of minutes remaining, the Flyers picked up goals from Wayne Simmonds, Erik Gustafsson and Jake Voracek to stun the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3, at the Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday night.

The win gave the Flyers their first three-game winning streak of the season, after failing on five previous occasions.

Down 3-2, the Flyers came roaring back. Simmonds watched a puck deflect off his skate at 14:54. Then Gustafsson executed a brilliant fake to deliver a goal at 16:44. Voracek put it away with an empty-netter.

Just a few days ago, the Flyers rallied to tie Washington with nine seconds to play in regulation and won it in overtime, so what gives? Why the sudden turnaround, especially in the third periods, which have been a problem all season?

“We’re playing real solid right now, good confidence,’’ said Gustafsson, who banked a puck off Montreal defenseman Francis Bouillon for the winner. “I think we’re coming together pretty good as a group, playing for each other, as a unit of five, helping each other better than we did earlier in the season.’’

Leading briefly late in the second period, the Flyers suffered one of their frequent mental lapses and gave up a pair of goals.

But then came the rally, and the Flyers managed to stay four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings.

This much we know, the Flyers haven’t given up hope.

“We played one of our best games tonight,’’ Claude Giroux said. “When we’re hungry, that’s when we play our best.

“We’re winning battles, making better decisions with the puck. Sometimes when we’re down, we want it so bad, we just keep working.’’

The Flyers held the lead in the second period courtesy of a Simon Gagne goal.

But then the Canadiens came roaring back with a pair of goals just 20 seconds apart as the period was coming to a close to retake the lead at 3-2.

Gagne put the Flyers briefly in front at 15:43, when he beat Carey Price from close range, courtesy of an Oliver Lauridsen assist (his first NHL point).

Lauridsen’s shot actually took a friendly bounce off the end boards and right to Gagne’s stick.

It didn’t take long for the Canadiens to recover. They made it 2-2 on a Brandon Prust goal at 16:29. The Canadiens worked a nice odd-man rush, with Jeff Halpern setting up Prust at the right hash marks for a shot under Ilya Bryzgalov’s glove.

Unsettled by that goal, the Flyers allowed another on a wide-angle shot by David Desharnais.

But the final rally erased any bad memories.

Earlier, Sean Couturier finally broke a 27-game goal drought at 4:47 of the second period. Ruslan Fedotenko picked up the assist as Couturier scored for the first time since Jan. 27, just his third goal of the season.

Ending the drought was quite a bit of a relief for Couturier, who had been the subject of trade rumors leading up to Wednesday’s deadline.

“Yeah, I’m young and obviously if there’s big names coming, my name is always going to be thrown around,’’ he said. “I try not to think about it and just play the game and do what I do.

“It (the drought) was tough. I think the last couple of games I’ve been getting some good scoring chances and when you get scoring chances it’s just a matter of time before you find the back of the net and one lucky bounce is all I need. Hopefully I can get some more here.’’

As for his teammates, Couturier says there’s no quit in them.

“We won’t give up,’’ he said. “We still have a chance and if we keep winning we’ll be right back in the mix. We’ve got to make our own destiny and we still have a chance so it’s good for us.’’

For coach Peter Laviolette, his team is finally showing the character he’s been waiting for all season.

“You change so much from year to year and certainly it’s an area that we have not been good at up until this point,’’ the coach said. “So it’s nice to see some results in the third period.

“We’re putting games away, we’re coming back in games and getting the points and wins that we need.’’

Short shots

Zac Rinaldo left the game with a lower body injury in the second period and did not return. Rinaldo reportedly needed assistance to leave the Wells Fargo Center, leading to speculation the injury is fairly serious.

Burlington County Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667889 Philadelphia Flyers

PARENT: Trades show Flyers are looking for cap space

April 04, 2013

By ROB PARENT

VOORHEES, N.J. — Having managed an early skate just to reacquaint himself with the ice Wednesday, Danny Briere had a spring in his heart if not in his step.

“It smells like playoffs,” Briere said of the upbeat vibe in the building, or maybe predicting when he could next play hockey.

Aside from that verbal shot of warmth, however, the news on Briere didn’t seem much better. He says he’s still suffering symptoms from the concussion caused by a fall into the boards during a practice March 23, but he doesn’t know when he will next sniff a game.

Briere said he’d tried to start a real rehabilitation since he bumped his head, but “had a couple of setbacks.” He was hoping to avoid another one after this skate, but remains out indefinitely.

“You get to the point where you feel OK, and so you push it a little bit more every day,” Briere said. “And if that’s fine, you push a little bit more.”

You get the idea that he won’t have any problem pushing hard if the Flyers go on some kind of April dash despite their long playoff odds. But what’s not so clear about Briere’s status is what will become of him after the season. He’s likely on a Flyers farewell tour right now, and it’s possible goalie Ilya Bryzgalov is going to take a bow with him if the Flyers decide to eat a ton of cash to say goodbye.

For clarity, look at Paul Holmgren’s actions at the trade deadline Wednesday. From the looks of things, he traded one backup goalie for another, and picked up a journeyman forward off the waiver wire. But you could also see Holmgren’s acquisition of goalie Steve Mason as a precursor to an offseason rebuild.

You can especially see that when you see how the Flyers can’t possibly go into another season with a team lacking so much and so strapped by a couple of contracts, those of Briere and Bryzgalov.

Briere is an obvious candidate for a compliance buyout under the so-called “amnesty clause included in the collective bargaining agreement that was painfully hashed out in January. His cap hit is $6.5 million for each of the next two years, though his actual salary is only a total of $5 million for those two years.

If the Flyers included him as one of the two amnesties they’re allowed to exercise over the next two offseasons, all of Briere’s money would come off the cap and the Flyers would only have to pay him two-thirds of the remaining salary on his contract ($3.3 million), then give him a grateful handshake and send him on his way.

It’s possible that Briere’s concussion complicated matters, since teams are not allowed to use the compliance buyout on injured players. The Flyers would not be able to use the amnesty clause on him until he got cleared by a doctor. Whether that means a team doctor or Briere’s personal choice isn’t something clear in a CBA apparently still being printed into nice little books in the NHL offices.

Either way, the Flyers likely will be able to move Briere in that fashion, which will get $6.5 million off the cap books for next season. That done, a decision will have to be made: Can Steve Mason become this team’s starting goalie?

If so, the Flyers would be able to erase another $5.6 million off their cap next year and six years after that by calling an amnesty on Bryzgalov. But that will truly come at a cost, since, let’s see ... Bryzgalov has $35.5 million in salary left on his deal.

How’s a nice $23.3 million severance check sound, Bryz?

“We like Steve as a young goalie,” Holmgren said of his new backup goalie, a guy just four years removed from winning a Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie. “I still think there’s tremendous upside there.”

It seems a stretch to think the Flyers have the time to determine that Mason will be a No. 1, that they can find another competent backup goalie and that they can eat that much cash just to send Bryzgalov and his cap hit on their way. But this is a team that needs half of an overhaul at the blue line, and that can only come with cap room to spare.

No matter how much it costs.

Delaware County Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667890 Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers swap Michael Leighton for Blue Jackets’ Steve Mason

April 04, 2013

By ROB PARENT

VOORHEES, N.J. — Picking up right where he left off last June at the NHL draft, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren again made a goalie trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets and thereby may have ignited a lot of goalie gossip going forward.

Beating the 3 p.m. trade deadline by about a half-hour, Holmgren Wednesday acquired Steve Mason from the Blue Jackets in exchange for backup goalie Michael Leighton and a third-round draft pick in 2015. It was the marquee move of the day for Holmgren, who aside from making a few other minor moves in the days leading up to the deadline stood pat with the core of his team despite holes up and down the Flyers’ roster.

Also acquired Wednesday was veteran checking line forward Adam Hall, plucked off waivers from Tampa Bay. Saturday Holmgren had traded for Detroit defenseman Kent Huskins (for a conditional 2014 pick) and Monday sent minor leaguer Harry Zolnierczyk to Anaheim for fighter Jay Rosehill.

At least bringing in Mason is an intriguing move. Still only 24, he was the 2009 NHL Rookie of the Year, going 33-20-7 in 61 appearances with a 2.29 goals-against average and .916 saves percentage for a typically bad Blue Jackets team.

That breakout first season came after Mason was hailed as a hockey hero in leading Team Canada to the gold medal at the 2008 World Junior Championships. Since those early successes, his career has dovetailed. The low point came this season, as he lost his starting position to former Flyers backup Sergei Bobrovsky, who was traded to Columbus at the NHL draft in June for three draft picks.

In 13 games this season, Mason has a 3-6-1 record with a 2.95 GAA and .899 saves percentage, while Bobrovsky has been claiming player of the week and month honors while leading the Blue Jackets to the verge of respectability. That put Mason, a pending restricted free agent, on the verge of delight that he was getting out.

“With the way that Sergei has played, he’s taken the ball and really run with it,” Mason said in an interview with TSN at the deadline. “Every goaltender wants to be able to have a fresh start. Nobody likes sitting on the bench. Myself, going to a new organization and re-establishing my career, I’m looking forward to that.”

Mason played with Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds and Luke Schenn on that gold-medal winning Canadian junior tourney team and he said he’s “more than thrilled” to be renewing old acquaintances.

When asked what he thought went wrong with the Blue Jackets, Mason added, “I put a lot of expectations on myself. When one bad thing happened, it seemed to have a snowball effect, and I just couldn’t get out of it. Now, with a fresh start, you just forget about all the negative things.”

But Mason’s presence and stature could represent something negative to starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. Making his 20th straight start Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens, Bryzgalov has been relatively solid this season. But when you consider the Flyers were likely to put a player like Andrej Meszaros on long-term injured reserve just so they could clear space for roster additions, there are implications going forward about a rebuilding job being hampered by the $5.66 million salary cap hit Bryzgalov’s contract calls for in each of the next seven years.

With Mason on board, speculation will likely increase that the Flyers may make Bryzgalov one of two cap compliance buyouts the Flyers are allowed to exercise this offseason and next.

Holmgren said he had not spoken to his starting goalie about the Mason move.

“His job is to stop the puck while he’s in the net,” Holmgren said. “It’s not to worry about other things like that.”

Asked if Mason would naturally be considered the backup goalie, Holmgren said only, “We see him as one of our two goalies, not only for the rest of this year, but moving forward.”

For now, though, Holmgren is fine with the fate that his team’s inadequacies, slow start and recent injuries have dealt it. He was not going to gamble any of his young assets at the deadline in a blind attempt to alter his team’s present course.

“We like our young group,” Holmgren said. “I still think we can make a little push here. We’ll see what happens over the final 13 games, but we have a lot of good, young players that we like and I think a lot of other teams like them, too. We didn’t want to do anything to disrupt that. We’ll ride out the rest of the year and try to make a playoff push.”

Holmgren said he’s already spoken with Mason’s agent about a contract extension. His current deal is paying him $3.2 million salary with a $2.9 million cap hit in this, the final year of the deal. He is scheduled to be a restricted free agent, and considering Bryzgalov’s $5.6M hit, the Flyers could be looking at $9 million or so of what’s expected to be a $64 million payroll limit next season dedicated to two goalies. Or not?

“I don’t think it will be $9 million,” Holmgren said. “I think there’s a way you can work with Steve and his agent to get his salary down a little bit. I don’t think that will be an issue.”

NOTES: Nick Grossmann practiced Wednesday but still seems at least a couple of game days from playing. He’s likely the only Flyer of the current injured group (Max Talbot, Danny Briere, Meszaros, Braydon Coburn, Grossmann) that will be able to return this regular season. ... Holmgren confirmed Talbot’s fractured left leg ends his season. For that reason, Hall was picked up off waivers. “He’s a good kid, works hard and can play any position,” Holmgren said.

Delaware County Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667891 Philadelphia Flyers

Win, new goalie have Flyers looking toward the future

April 04, 2013

By JACK McCAFFERY

PHILADELPHIA — By day, the Flyers gave indication Wednesday that they were edging toward reshaping their next season. By night, they would continue to try to salvage this one.

With three goals in the final 5:06, the Flyers would earn a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at the Wells Fargo Center, good for their first three-game winning streak of the season, and for continued hope that the fractured season may last beyond their final 12 scheduled games.

That was only hours after they’d put themselves in position for a major offseason personnel shift by trading for another capable goaltender and the possibility of new salary maneuverability.

The Flyers entered the game in 13th place in the Eastern Conference, yet finished what was felt to be a season-defining five-game homestand at an encouraging 3-1-1.

“Any time you play at home, in front of your fans, you have to get those wins,” captain Claude Giroux said. “Obviously, it is not a secret our record is not too good on the road. So we have to focus here.”

Wayne Simmonds was rewarded for his focus in front of Carey Price at 14:54 of the third, when he redirected a Bruno Gervais attempt and forged a 3-3 tie. And 2:30 later, Erik Gustafsson was credited with the game-winning goal on a deflected pass to Matt Read in front. Jake Voracek’s goal with 39 seconds left added the flourish.

Sean Couturier and Simon Gagne each scored odd goals to help build a 2-1 lead in the second period, but Montreal answered with two goals within 20 seconds.

Zac Rinaldo left with a lower-body injury during the game. The Flyers offered no deeper explanation.

The first period ended with 20 seconds of tension between Brayden Schenn and P.K. Subban. After a collision in the Montreal zone, the two skated back around toward the Flyers’ bench where, at the horn, Schenn elbowed Subban, who crashed into the boards and tumbled. The crowd was delighted, the authorities were not, and Schenn was smeared with a two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

By then, the Canadiens had built a 1-0 lead. With Brendan Gallagher screening and Luke Schenn providing minimal help, Alexei Emelin would send a 20-yard wrist shot past Bryzgalov at 13:13.

But Couturier answered at 4:47 of the second with a flip that hit Price, then ricocheted off the leg of a stunned Subban and into the net. The goal was Couturier’s third of the season and first since Jan. 27, a span of 27 games.

The Flyers made it 2-1 on another fluke goal at 15:43 of the second. That’s when Luke Schenn shot way wide of the net, only to have the puck ping-pong off the back boards and directly to an unattended Gagne, who redirected it past a shocked Price.

“It was good work by our line,” said Gagne, of his third goal of the season. “There was good cycling of the puck and keeping the puck on the wall. I got a lucky rebound from the board right on to my tape. I think Carey Price was looking at the other side, so I had a pretty much open net. It was a lucky bounce, but I’ll take it.”

The Flyers took the goal, the lead and what should have been momentum. But just 46 seconds later, Brandon Prust hustled into the zone, accepted a pinpoint pass from Jeff Halpern and scored to even it up. And 20 seconds after that, David Desharnais took a shot from the deep right-wing circle that deflected off of Brayden Schenn’s stick and so startled Bryzgalov that he lifted his arms above his head as if unable to see the puck, which promptly sailed past him for a 3-2 Montreal lead.

If not necessarily for any of those such reasons, but just because of the way the money and the opportunities are shuffled about the NHL, it was the Flyers’ activity earlier in the day that indicated a more lasting goaltending shift. That’s when Paul Holmgren moved Michael Leighton and a third-round 2015 draft choice to Columbus for goalie Steve Mason, a former rookie of the year. The quick analysis was that it at least gives the Flyers a cushion should they choose to buy Bryzgalov out for the cap relief, an option that came with the new bargaining agreement.

But with Bryzgalov making his 20th consecutive start Wednesday, and an ordinary one at that, Mason could be an appealing net alternative for a club with continuing postseason hopes.

“He’s a young goaltender who has had some success in the league,” Peter Laviolette said before the game. “I’m sure he is looking to get here and get going with us for a fresh start for him. So we’re excited. He’s a big goaltender that has had a lot of success in the league.”

With those 12 games left in the regular season, the Flyers will play their next five on the road, beginning tonight in Toronto.

They are not talking about the playoffs, but a successful five-game homestand earned them the option to start thinking that way.

“We have just been talking about our games, and less about what other teams are doing around the league,” Laviolette said. “We just focus on our opponent and on being ready to play when we have to. The only thing we can control right now is our games and making sure that we win them.”

Delaware County Times LOADED: 04.04.2013

667892 Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers claim Hall off waivers

One day after the Carolina Hurricanes sent forward Adam Hall and a seventh-round draft pick to Tampa Bay in exchange for Marc-Andre Bergeron, the Lightning put Hall on waivers ... and the Flyers made him theirs today.

That's been the extent of their Trade Deadline Day activity so far, picking up the veteran Hall off waivers. They also apparently have kept defenseman Kurtis Foster, who was to be on waivers until 12 noon. There has been no word of him being claimed.

Hall is 32, hasn't scored a goal this year but provides needed depth with both Max Talbot and Danny Briere both likely out for at least the balance of the regular season.

Hall is rather well traveled. He has 591 career NHL games under his belt, including stints with Pittsburgh, Minnesota, the Rangers, Nashville, Carolina and Tampa twice.

He has 65 career goals and 147 career points.

As for Briere, who has been out the past 10 days with a concussion, he told the Daily Times today that he's still experiencing rather severe symptoms and only now is starting light exercise again after suffering a few setbacks.

Briere is not optimistic of a return to action anytime soon. More on this later.

posted by Rob Parent

Comcast SportsNet.com LOADED: 04.04.2013

667893 Philadelphia Flyers

Instant Replay: Flyers 5, Canadiens 3

April 3, 2013, 10:00 pm Sarah Baicker

It took five tries, but the Flyers finally managed to win three consecutive games, and they did it in front of the home crowd.

Wednesday’s effort at the Wells Fargo Center was certainly mixed. There were highlights, sure, but lowlights too, as the Flyers once again fell victim to bad luck while also slipping into some of the same bad habits that have plagued them all throughout this lockout-shortened season.

They fought through it, however, besting the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3.

The Habs are a fast team, and entered Wednesday’s game in the midst of a rather hot streak – they had won their last three in a row, including a big 3-0 shutout of the New York Rangers. If ever there were a time for the Flyers to prove they could play with desperation for a full 60 minutes, this was it.

They did start the game with some jump, claiming the first three shots on net of the evening, but the pace began to decline as the period went on. And it took only until the unlucky time of 13:13 of the first period for the Canadiens to strike. Defenseman Alexei Emelin got lucky on a shot from the point, as Ilya Bryzgalov was screened.

The Canadiens carried their 1-0 lead into the second stanza, which the Flyers started on the penalty kill thanks to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Brayden Schenn. Schenn allowed Habs defenseman P.K. Subban to do what he does very well – draw a needless penalty.

They killed that penalty off, and followed it up with a back-to-back fights, injecting some energy into what had been becoming a listless effort. First, Wayne Simmonds took on Travis Moen in a short-but-sweet match that saw Simmonds land one good punch before the two toppled to the ice.

As soon as play resumed, Zac Rinaldo squared off with Brandon Prust – though Rinaldo was on the losing end of the tussle.

He later left the game with a lower-body injury, and didn’t return.

Moments later, Sean Couturier tied it up for the Flyers. A strange bounce off of what appeared to at first be a pass hit Montreal goalie Carey Price before bouncing off of Subban’s leg and deflecting into the net, but even the ugly ones count.

It was Couturier’s first goal since Jan. 27.

The Flyers added to Couturier’s tally when Simon Gagne picked up a puck that had bounced off the boards behind Price and whipped it home.

“It was good work by our line,” Gagne said. “There was good cycling of the puck and keeping the puck on the wall. I got a lucky rebound from the board right on to my tape. I think Carey Price was looking at the other side, so I had a pretty much open net. It was a lucky bounce, but I'll take it.”