DETROIT -- Peter Laviolette has seen a number of his prospects and rookies through four games and now its time to get serious.
The final three games of preseason, he said, need to focus on getting his team together. That is, set the lines and defensive pairings.
We got these three games coming up and we have ideas of using this as an opportunity to get our team squared away, the Flyers coach said. We used these first four games to put systems in place for everybody and get everybody games.
We had a lot of kids here, we wanted to see our kids and we said that from the start. Now well go back and see where we are with the numbers and start to put something together.
One of those guys who is going to stick around is Matt Read.
Read has four points in three exhibition games. He continues to make a strong case for himself among the top 12 forwardsnot the 13th. He worked both the penalty kill and power play against Detroit.
Hes a well-rounded player, Laviolette said. This is our first look at him as coaches at the NHL level against NHL players and he still continues to impress.
NHL
Getting defensive
Matt Carle played three of the four exhibitions because the Flyers needed a tad more defensive experience against better lineups.
Carle logged 21:30.
I asked him to come in and play because Detroit was going to have a bigger lineup in there, Laviolette said.
Hit and run
The hit of the game came in the second period when Red Wings defenseman Garnet Exelby went to the side boards to check Tommy Sestito and ended up taking both Sestito and teammate Andrej Meszaros out. Both went tumbling to the ice.
It wasnt that hard, Meszaros said. I was supposed to pinch on that play. Sestito kept it in there and I was supposed to help. All three of us fell down. It was funny.
Missed opportunity
Scott Hartnell had a perfect tic-tac-toe setup for a goal in the second period, but was a bit too nonchalant and as a result, popped the puck wide of the post.
Packing a punch
One fightagain, in the second periodbetween Flyer defenseman Matt Walker and Detroits Mike Commodore.
Walker realizes this is a must season for him to make the big roster full-time, given his injury history last year. The fight was a draw. This was Walkers second game.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.