2012 NHL Playoffs, Flyers Vs. Penguins, Danny Briere Injury Update: Center Expected To Return Wednesday, According To Report

Philadelphia Flyers defender Nicklas Grossmann is expected to return when the team begins the 2012 NHL playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night, and center Danny Briere could very well join him.

Though Briere said he had been told not to discuss his injury status, he admitted to reporters on Monday that he has no limitations anymore and feels much better now than he did a week ago.

"To be honest, I'm not allowed to speak on any injuries or the roster or if I'm going to play or not," Briere said with a smile on Monday.

"All I can tell you is - and you saw it - I'm practicing and working to get ready. That's all I'm allowed to say at this point."

Briere missed the final three regular season games after being hit by Joe Vitale of the Penguins and suffering back spasms.

For complete coverage of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, be sure to check our our blog Broad Street Hockey, our StoryStream and SB Nation Philly.

Philadelphia Flyers Re-sign Nicklas Grossmann, Solidify Defense

The Philadelphia Flyers signed the deadline acquisition to a four-year, $14 million contract extension, locking up the physical defensive stalwart for the foreseeable future.

Philadelphia Flyers Injury Updates: Andrej Meszaros, James Van Riemsdyk To Miss Beginning Of Playoffs

Despite reports stating that Andrej Meszaros was ahead of schedule on his recovery from back surgery, the Philadelphia Flyers announced Friday that the defenseman is still 2-4 weeks away from returning to the ice. The timetable means that Meszaros will miss time in the playoffs.

James van Riemsdyk, out since March 1 with a broken foot, likewise won't be ready for the beginning of the playoffs and is expected to miss 2-3 more weeks.

The Flyers also announced that there have been no changes to the statuses of Danny Briere and Nicklas Grossmann. Briere remains out indefinitely with a back injury and Grossmann is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

For more news and analysis on the Philadelphia Flyers, head on over to Broad Street Hockey. Still not enough hockey coverage for you? The SB Nation NHL Hub Page has all the latest news from all 30 teams during the stretch run of the regular season and along the road to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Flyers Coach Peter Laviolette Fined $10,000 Due To Actions In Pittsburgh Game

The NHL announced on Monday that Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has been fined $10,000 due to actions late in the Flyers' 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Laviolette, furious about the Penguins decision to send out tough guys against his team late in the game which resulted in Danny Briere's injury and a brawl, got into a shouting match with Pittsburgh's assistant coach Tony Granato. That is, after Laviolette had taken Maxime Talbot's stick and broken it over the partition between the team's benches.

After the game, Laviolette called the move by Penguins coach Dan Bylsma sending out his checking line when he "gutless."

"Those guys hadn't played in 12 minutes, that's a gutless move by their coach," said Laviolette. "It's gutless."

For more news and analysis on the Philadelphia Flyers, head on over to Broad Street Hockey. Still not enough hockey coverage for you? The SB Nation NHL Hub Page has all the latest news from all 30 teams during the stretch run of the regular season and along the road to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Danny Briere Injury Update: Center Out Indefinitely, Nicklas Grossmann Also Sustains Injury

Philadelphia Flyers forward Danny Briere, who was on the wrong side of a clean hit that sparked a brawl in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, is out indefinitely with an upper back contusion, the team announced on Monday.

Nicklas Grossmann was also injured against the Penguins and is out 7-10 days with a lower body injury.

Briere was leveled by Pittsburgh's Joe Vitale late in the third period of Philadelphia's 6-4 win on Sunday, an incident that set off a fight that had the teams' coaches screaming at each other across the boards.

Grossmann left the ice after a first-period collision and did not return.

For more news and analysis on the Philadelphia Flyers, head on over to Broad Street Hockey. Still not enough hockey coverage for you? The SB Nation NHL Hub Page has all the latest news from all 30 teams during the stretch run of the regular season and along the road to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Flyers Vs Penguins Fight: Late Game Message Sent, But Who Sent It?

When Joe Vitale laid out Danny Briere with a (clean) open-ice hit with just over a minute to go in the game, a lot of emotion spilled out. Perhaps best encapsulated by the Hulk Hogan fan behind the Flyers bench.

Perhaps the question asked most frequently was: Why would the Penguins send their fourth line out at that point in the game?

The Penguins were down 6-3 in the game, having just given up an empty-net goal. There was 1:15 left in the third period and they sent out their bottom-of-the-roster guys Joe Vitale, Craig Adams, Arron Asham, Matt Niskanen and Deryk Engelland.

Engelland is their enforcer (21 fights in the past two years combined) while Asham is well-known among Flyers fans as a heavyweight, if not an actual enforcer.

It could easily be argued that the Penguins sent out their fourth line to send a message. It could also easily be argued that the Penguins sent out their fourth line because that’s what you do in a blowout game where the outcome is already decided. Both explanations are reasonable.

None of that has any bearing on the fact that Joe Vitale’s hit on Danny Briere was clean, however. Vitale did not leave his feet, he did not hit Briere’s head, he did not charge or lead with his elbow.

But the question likely to get lost in the shuffle is one that was briefly touched on by Sidney Crosby:

"I’m sure (Lavi) doesn’t like to see one of their top players getting hit… Maybe he shouldn’t have put him out there."

If one can ignore the bias against Crosby, they should be able to see the interesting point Crosby makes.

The Flyers had just gone up by three goals with at most two shifts left in the game. Peter Laviolette sends out: Brayden Schenn, who earlier in the game cross-checked Sidney Crosby away from the play; Wayne Simmonds, who has a badly mangled face due to deflecting the puck in the net off of his eye the day before; and Danny Briere, the diminutive, offense-only forward who has both a history of dirty stick work and of getting caught with his head down.

In a game the Flyers have locked up, Laviolette sent out his least defensively-responsible line that contained a player known for questionable play, another with a target on his back and a third player with a busted face.

None of this is to say that Peter Laviolette knowingly put vulnerable players in a dangerous situation, but he did choose to put vulnerable players in a lose-lose situation.

There is no reason Schenn should see the ice again that game, since he was likely to be targeted. There is also no reason Briere should see the ice again that game, since the team does not need any more offense. Simmonds would be reasonable were it not for the fact that he was on the ice with Schenn, since it is possible – if not likely – that Simmonds would need to protect Schenn.

Peter Laviolette isn’t naive. Maybe he didn’t think anything would happen when he put that line out on the ice, but he surely knew there was a possibility that Schenn would be targeted – and will be on Saturday. Laviolette consciously chose to put an offense-only forward on the ice up by three, which could easily be taken as a sign of disrespect.

In a game that has playoff implications, against a team they will be seeing a lot of in the next few weeks, Dan Bylsma, Joe Vitale and the Penguins sent a message.

But the Flyers played right into it. Was it on purpose?

Penguins Vs. Flyers Final Score: Tempers, Fights Erupt At End Of Philadelphia's 6-4 Victory

Behind four third-period goals Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers earned a come-from-behind victory, 6-4, over inter-state rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins at the CONSOL Energy Center. However, the contest will more than likely be remembered not for the Flyers gritty, comeback performance, but instead, the heated scrum between the two teams with less than a minute to go in regulation.

The brawl came after an empty-net goal by the Flyers' Jakub Voracek, his second of the period, that put the game away (6-3) with 1 minutes, 45 seconds to go. On the ensuing face off, Pens head coach Dan Bylsma put out his fourth line which led to Joe Vitale leveling Flyers' forward Danny Briere with a clean hit near center ice. Briere fell to the ice and a handful of fights ensued.

In the end, multiple penalty minutes were dished out and both head coaches were asked to leave their respective benches and go to the locker room.

Oh, and this happened after too (Flyers' Scott Hartnell made fun of Hulk Hogan!).

via assets.sbnation.com

via assets.sbnation.com

As for the game, the Flyers trailed 2-0 early in the first period but rallied using goals by Claude Giroux and Maxime Talbot to tie the contest at 2-2.

That's how the third period began, however, it didn't last long (2:35) as Wayne Simmonds scored to give the Flyers a 3-2 advantage. From there, the rout was on as Jakub Voracek and Marc-Andre Bourdon tallied goals to push the margin to 5-2.

This contest is a primer for what could come in the series and regular-season finale next Saturday (4 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network). The two heated rivals could also meet in the first round of the NHL playoffs, as the Flyers and Pens are neck-and-neck in the Eastern Conference standings -- Pittsburgh is in fourth place with 102 points, while Philly is in fifth place with 101.

For more on Flyers hockey, check out the SB Nation blog Broad Street Hockey. Meanwhile, PensBurgh has everything on the Penguins.

Flyers Vs. Penguins: Pittsburgh Hosts Philadelphia As Regular Season Nears Conclusion