Flyers shake up lines for Game 4
Coach John Stevens will reunite Richards, Briere in hopes of staving off elimination against Penguins
Last Updated: Thursday, May 15, 2008 | 1:02 PM ET
CBC Sports
Flyers' Danny Briere and Mike Richards had some on-ice chemistry as linemates earlier this season. (Tim Mihalek/Associated Press)Goaltender Martin Biron and his Philadelphia Flyers teammates are officially in one-game-at-a-time mode.
It seems the best approach, considering the Flyers trail 3-0 to Sidney Crosby and the archrival Pittsburgh Penguins in the best-of-seven NHL Eastern Conference final.
"We won four straight against the No. 1 team in the conference," Biron told reporters Wednesday, referring to the Flyers' 4-1 series victory over Montreal in the East semifinal.
"Not because we were thinking 'let's win four straight' but because we were thinking 'let's win one and move on.'
"You don't want to go out in four games," Biron added on the eve of Thursday's Game 4 in Philadelphia (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 7:30 p.m. ET). "You want to win one game four times."
Problem is, history shows it's a formidable task. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and 1975 New York Islanders are the only teams to come back from a 3-0 series deficit.
The Flyers could also make things tougher on themselves by duplicating Tuesday's effort in Game 3, when they mustered a paltry eight shots against Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury through the first two periods.
The hometown Flyers directed 10 shots Fleury's way in the third, but he stopped them all to preserve a 4-1 victory.
Sure, with Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa and Petr Sykora, Pittsburgh's offence is seen as a handful, but the Penguins' commitment to defence has been the story of this Battle of Pennsylvania.
The likes of Sergei Gonchar, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Whitney and Hal Gill have shut down a Flyers offence that scored 20 times in five games against Montreal.
The Penguins have surrendered only 22 goals in becoming the first team since 1983 to win 11 of its first 12 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And Fleury, who missed 27 games in the regular season due to a high ankle sprain, has been sensational with a 1.75 goals-against average.
"We don't like to lose the puck," offered Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien. "We don't want the other team to forecheck us that hard."
Philadelphia is co-operating fully by not getting the puck deep, because the Penguins' defensive pressure has been stifling.
So, what next for the Flyers?
"When we played Montreal, after Game 1, we made some adjustments, got a bounce one way, and went out and won four straight," said Biron.
Flyers coach John Stevens has changed three of his four forward lines for Game 4. The most notable change sees centre Mike Richards replacing Vinny Prospal on the top line with Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell.
"Danny and I have had success on the power play," Richards said. "At the beginning of the year when we were put together, it seemed like we had some chemistry. We've got to find ways to get to the net."
Meanwhile, Flyers defenceman Braydon Coburn would like to find a way to get into Thursday's lineup.
He skated Wednesday, complete with a visor to protect a 50-stitch gash to his left eye, and then pronounced himself ready. But the second-year NHLer will first have to get clearance from the Flyers' medical staff.
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is healthy and excited about the prospects of appearing in its first Stanley Cup final since 1992, when the Penguins swept Chicago.
"We're right here and we can taste it," said defenceman Hal Gill, who was acquired from Toronto in a Feb. 26 trade. "We want to get it done as soon as possible."
With files from the Associated Press
