The Flyers announced this afternoon that Harry Zolnierczyk has been sent back to the Adirondack Phantoms. He's been a strong player on the fourth line for the Flyers for most of the season thus far, but apparently he's lost his spot on the roster to Tom Sestito, who has played in Harry Z's place in a few games since the All-Star break.

Zolnierczyk was a healthy scratch last night against the Islanders, on Saturday against the Devils and last Tuesday against Winnipeg. It's evident that Zolnierczyk has been marginalized by the play of Sestito, and I'm not going to pretend to understand that considering they play completely different roles.

I don't absolutely hate the move from a sending-down-Harry-Z perspective, but the impact it has on Sean Couturier is what worries me. He's now all but forced to play with some combination of Sestito, Zac Rinaldo and Jody Shelley on that fourth line... and well, that sucks. Maybe the alternative is to put Max Talbot on the fourth line, but I'm not sure how I like that either.

Essentially, losing Harry Z forces the Flyers to lose some versatility in the lineup, and that's the part that's more bothersome than anything else.

Today's open discussion thread, complete with your daily dose of Philadelphia Flyers-related news and notes...

• Recaps from last night: [BSH] [SB Nation Philly] [Lighthouse Hockey] [CSNPhilly] [Daily News] [Inquirer] [delcotimes.com] [the700level] [Flyers Faithful] [The Checking Line] [Bill Meltzer]
• Kimmo Timonen said he's "happy with the effort" and that "the effort was there" for the full 65 minutes. I'm waiting for the shouts of "doesn't care about losing" to come: [CSNPhilly]
• James van Riemsdyk spoke about his concussion and his recovery: [CSNPhilly] [Daily News] [delcotimes.com]
• Rich Hoffman says Danny Briere looked good last night, but it's how he feels today that matters: [Daily News]
• Ever hear of laces bite? Admittedly, I hadn't. It's apparently a problem for Marc-Andre Bourdon: [Daily News]
• Debating the Flyers' likely moves at the upcoming deadline: [Flyers Faithful]
• A nice story on what Kevin Marshall brings to the Bears: [PennLive.com]
• Looking at the most expensive bluelines and their teams' goals against average. Chris Pronger makes the Flyers look bad: [Puck Daddy]
• Frans Nielsen signed a four year, $11 million extension with the Islanders: [Lighthouse Hockey] [Puck Daddy]
• An interesting idea here: looking at the 80 players who deviated most from their average ice time in last night's games: [NHL Ice Time]

As most of you know, it recently came out that the Flyers rarely practice the shootout. Now let me first say that I myself am not a fan of a skills competition deciding the outcome of a game. I respect the "displeasure" true fans of the game feel towards the shootout. However, the fact of the matter is it IS a part of the game now, and it is the difference between 1 point and 2 points. To that effect, I think some effort should be put into practicing the shootout for when the situation arises. Granted, the Flyers efforts in practice should largely be focused on some glaring deficiencies now often seen on the ice during the 60-65 minutes of real hockey, but with how many offensively talented guys we have in this locker room, there is no excuse for being at the very bottom of the league at these stupid things year in and year out. Who knows, we may really need a few extra points somewhere down the line. Just some thoughts.

[Complete Coverage] - [New York Reaction] - [Discussion Thread]
[Event Summary] - [PBP Log] - [TOI Log] - [Faceoff Report]
[Shift Charts] - [Head-to-Head TOI] - [Shot Differential] - [5-on-5 Faceoffs]

Once we reached about five minutes into a scoreless third period at Wells Fargo Center tonight, you just knew it was going to be one of those games that'd end up either wonderfully satisfying or brutally heartbreaking. One where the Flyers would either be rewarded for a relentless effort, or forced to slug back to the locker room with a dejected feeling they wouldn't really deserve.

Sometimes you just don't get the result you deserve in this game, and tonight was Exhibit A. The Flyers peppered the New York Islanders net with 45 shots -- compared to just 18 on goal for the Islanders -- but Evgeni Nabokov had an answer for each and every chance the Flyers could muster and New York left the building with a 1-0 shootout victory.

Make no doubt about it: Nabokov got exactly the result he deserved tonight, but he's probably the only guy on either team who can say that after this one.

The Flyers top line really poured it on tonight. Scott Hartnell, Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr combined for 16 shots on their own, and at even strength, they each had an on-ice shot differential of at least 20. Dominating stuff, really, and the only reason several pucks didn't find the back of the net was Nabokov.

Special teams were even more impressive. The power play was (obviously) held off the board for the first time in seven games, but it was still a potent unit that generated quite a few chances. The penalty kill was even better, at times getting more chances while shorthanded than the Isles were getting with the extra man.

But none of it matters, thanks to Evgeni Nabokov and the shootout. It sucks, but there's really no sense in getting upset about it. Some times, you just have to tip your cap to a guy and move on. Hey, look on the bright side: Second shutout of the year for Ilya Bryzgalov!

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New York Islanders (21-22-8, 50 pts) at Philadelphia Flyers at (30-16-6, 66 pts)

7 p.m. tonight at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia

Catch the action on CSN Philly, MSG Plus and 94WIP

[Game Preview] - [New York Perspective]

Tonight's goaltenders:

Stats widgets are giving me a hard time, but it's llya Bryzgalov vs. Evgeni Nabokov tonight.

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Looking at thepast several games and the disappointing results, I have asked what is the source of these problems. I believe the source is the lack of defensive philosophy. When the Flyers are in either the offensive zone for an extended period of time, they seem lost and disorganized. In most games I have seen the Flyers have a bad habit of getting into track meets even when they are leading by several goals. I do not have any insights on how to improve the Flyers forecheck, shot selection or use of set plays but I do believe I have some ideas on what the Flyers should do to improve their defensive coverage. As Frederick the Great once said to defend everything is to defend nothing. In hockey this means making priorities on how to position players defensively. For instance, if a goaltender plays percentage shots or incredibly good at protecting the flower half of the net, you want to force opponents to duke it out in the slot and force them to bad shots. On the other hand if the goaltender has good hand eye coordination , you want to keep shooters to the outside and try to keep shooting lanes clear. Some goaltenders are incredibly gifted and can play with any sort of defense, others are not so fortunate. I think both Bob and Bryz fall in the latter category; this does not mean they are no good, but that their game fits better with one defensive philosophy any other. Looking at Bob and Bryz play, I see their best saves on shots to which they are squared and there is some distance between the shooter and themselves. On the other hand I see both goalies giving rather soft goals up close. This leads me to believe the Flyers should focus on forcing shots from the outside , keeping lanes clear, making the goalies freeze the puck and winning faceoffs. At this moment, I think with Bryz the Flyers can accomplish 3/4 of these tasks, the 4th one (winning faceoffs) is more of a problem, but even at 48%, I like the odds of just freezing the puck, trying to win faceoffs and then breaking out. On the other hand, I think Bob needs some more seasoning, I think he sometimes overplays the shot and something that needs coaching. Nevertheless, I think transitioning to such a defensive philosophy would give the Flyers more control in their games and force opponents to take more drastic risks and lead to more turnovers.

Thoughts?