Despite heading into the playoffs with little momentum after a 4-5-1 finish and missing a golden opportunity to have home-ice in the first round, the Flyers believe this years playoff rematch with the Penguins will have a different result because of health.
In the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals, the Flyers top defensemen Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn saw limited action during the series. Timonen did not appear in a game until the series finale and Coburn was lost for the series in Game 2 after taking a puck to the face that resulted in 50+ stitches.
Beatwriters with the Flyers tell me, the organization truly believes it would have been a much different series if Coburn and Timonen were in the lineup throughout the series. The Flyers were also without 34 goal scorer Simon Gagne.
All three players will be at 100% health for the start of the series which begins Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. , and the Flyers believe they are a deeper team than last year and that the Penguins have taken a few steps back.
Knuble: “We’re a year older and more experienced and healthy”

Off-Day Report
After playing on Sunday, the Flyers did not practice on Monday but went through off-ice workouts.
The Flyers have six players with 25 goals or more and would likely have another if Daniel Briere was healthy this season. Briere has 11 goals in 29 games.
Goaltender Marty Biron will start in game 1 and he will have to outperform Marc Andre Fleury for the Flyers to win this series.
The Flyers recalled defenseman Luca Sbisa and forward Jared Ross from the AHL Phantoms.
There’s a lot of buzz coming out Philadelphia that there have been some chemistry issues in the locker room since the Flyers placed Glen Metropolit on waivers because of salary cap concerns.
Injury Report
Ryan Parent ( groin), expected to be limited in practice on Tuesday. Will play
Randy Jones (hip), will play