Just another day at the rink right?

Well not quite. The Philadelphia Flyers are in town for the first of a two game home and home set. At stake? Conference seeding as the two teams are locked in a three way tie for seventh spot in the Eastern Conference.

Derek Roy was out on the ice today participating in the morning skate, while Tim Connolly was nowhere to be found, apparently still nursing a bad case of the flu. Roy explained that the injury he sustained the other night was a freak sort of thing, where he just crashed into the boards unabated. As for today – “It felt good” he said. “I was shooting OK.” Still concerned with his full range of motion, Roy said “this is the type of injury that you just have to go and battle through, and I will.”

Coach Lindy Ruff stressed the importance of tonight’s game as it relates to the standings. “A win tonight puts us right in the playoff picture, and that is where we want to be” said Ruff. Commenting on the return of former Sabres Martin Biron and Daniel Briere, Ruff said “The best thing about both those guys is what great guys there were in our room. I don’t remember Marty ever having a bad day.”

Lindy was asked about how the team might respond to Philadelphia’s physical style of play, fearing a repeat of the two game debacle out in California. “It’s not about us responding, it’s about us initiating” Ruff replied and with that his morning comments were over.

Danny Briere was asked if he harbors any ill will towards the Sabres after not being asked to return until it was too late. “You know I’m over it. I’m happy with the Flyers and where I am. Besides teams have a right to walk away from their players just like we have a right to walk away from teams. I’m not here to bash the organization” said Briere. I asked Briere what he might expect in terms of crowd reaction. “I haven’t had much time ti think about it” he replied.

Flyers Goaltender Martin Biron was… well… Marty being Marty, chatting a mile a minute despite being on the clock for the 12:15 team bus back to the hotel. “Last time I appeared on this ice was when I fought Ray Emery” Biron said wistfully. So of course the question just had to be asked - “Does that mean you’ll be fighting Miller?”. “I don’t know” replied Biron with a wink and a nod, but then added “I don’t think that’s on the program tonight.”

After my own 10 days on the DL recovering from surgery, I will be in the AV chair covering tonight and will have a postgame report later on.

RSS 2.0 Respond Trackback