Flyers will feature new lines as they look for first win in San Jose

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The Flyers are lucky the Phillies are still playing because most of Philadelphia either hasn't noticed or doesn't care about how poorly the Flyers are playing. After 4 games, the Flyers have yet to win and have been outscored 17-10. Pretty much the only thing going for them right now is how well Simon Gagne (4 goals) and Mike Richards (3 goals) have been playing and how quickly Luca Sbisa has adjusted to the NHL. Everything else seems broken, from terrible defensive play to average goaltending.

In an effort to shake things up, coach John Stevens will be mixing up the forward lines when the Flyers take on the Sharks on Saturday night:

Gagne - Briere - Knuble
Hartnell - Richards - Downie
Upshall - Carter - Lupul
Cote - Metropolit - Asham

All the changes seem to make sense as Stevens tries to find combos that will work. He is splitting up the top line, the only one that has consistently been scoring, in an effort to spread out the offensive attack. Richards drops down to the second line while Danny Briere moves back to center on the top line. Mike Knuble moves up to the first line and Steve Downie moves up to the second line and over to the wing.

Let's hope this line shake-up works because if it doesn't the next step will be making trades or demoting players. We know that this group can win, it's simply a matter of them picking up the intensity. Hopefully they find their energy soon or this team could be headed for another season like 06/07.