The Sports Granola

You can stop holding your breath now.

Flyers center Danny Briere expects to be back in the lineup Friday night when the Flyers open the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center.

Briere, who has a sprained left knee, skated today on his own for the first time since being injured on April 2. The Flyers had an off day.

“I’m feeling great,” Briere said. “It’s not going to be a problem. I’ll be fine to start the series on Friday.”

Briere’s sprain is nowhere near as bad as the one R.J. Umberger incurred March 16 in Pittsburgh. Umberger missed two weeks and six games. Briere missed only the final two games of the regular season after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Jarkko Ruuto on April 2 in Pittsburgh.

“I don’t know for sure on Danny, but I think he is ahead of schedule from where [Umberger] was because he has gotten back on the ice a lot sooner than [Umberger] did,” said Flyers coach John Stevens. “We’ll wait and see how Danny responds to being on the ice. But we’re hopeful.”

Like Umberger, Briere will wear a knee brace the remainder of the postseason. Stevens said he did not think Briere is finding the brace cumbersome. Umberger said recently he hardly even notices his.

Briere would not comment on the brace.

“I felt good on the ice,” Briere said. “If we had pushed it, there’s a chance I could have played in [yesterday's] game against Pittsburgh. But when we clinched on Friday and with the way things went, we figured it was safer to rest up for the playoffs.”

Briere will practice with the Flyers tomorrow.

Derian Hatcher also skated today. He is recovering from a fractured tibia and is not expected to be available until later in the series.

“It’s somewhat of a battle,” Hatcher said. “The last three or four days, we’ve been doing a ton [of workouts], and I’m trying to get over some the soreness and stiffness.”