Flyers Notes: Habs' fans stuff ballot boxes

In the fans' voting for the Eastern Conference starters in the All-Star Game, no Flyers are close to the leaders for the Jan. 25 contest in Montreal.

Canadiens fans are stuffing the cyberspace ballot boxes at

» READ MORE: http://vote.nhl.com

. As of early last night, five of the six starters were Canadiens, including goalie

Carey Price

, who ranked 15th in the league with a 2.40 goals-against average.

Pittsburgh's

Sidney Crosby

was the top vote-getter and only non-Canadien among the six starters.

The Flyers'

Jeff Carter

, who went into last night tied for the NHL lead with 18 goals, isn't on the all-star ballot. The Flyers are putting together a write-in campaign for Carter.

Kimmo Timonen

was seventh in the voting for the two starting defensemen. He was the highest-ranked Flyer at any position.

Carter,

Mike Richards

,

Simon Gagne

and

Marty Biron

- the four other Flyers on the ballot - were not in the top 10 in the voting. The first three players, though likely not starters, have a good chance to be added to the team.

Fans can vote as often as they want through Jan. 2.

Defenseman

Matt Carle

sat out his second straight game last night with what was believed to be a back injury. An MRI was negative and Carle was listed as day-to-day, general manager

Paul Holmgren

said.

"We don't think it's anything serious," Holmgren said.

Center

Darroll

Powe

was promoted from the Phantoms. The Flyers also reassigned forward

Jon

Kalinski

to the AHL team.

Powe, 23, was scoreless in three games for the Flyers this season; he sat out about a month with a concussion. In eight games with the Phantoms, he had four goals and three assists.

Kalinski, 21, was scoreless in six games with the Flyers.

Among NHL teams in U.S. markets, the Flyers have the fifth-highest number of viewers, according to the Nielsen ratings.

For the season's first eight weeks, the Flyers have a 2.1 rating, which represents 60,000 households in the Philadelphia market. Buffalo (8.9), Pittsburgh (5.7), Detroit (3.3) and Minnesota (2.6) are the U.S. hockey markets with higher ratings.

During the same period last year, the Flyers had a 2.2 rating. The 5 percent decline was probably because viewers were watching the Phillies play in the World Series this year.

Defenseman

Randy Jones

(hip) hopes to return to the lineup around Dec. 16. Jones reportedly has drawn interest from Columbus, coached by former Flyers coach

Ken Hitchcock

. . . . Center

Danny Briere

, who will miss at least four weeks with a severe groin strain, said it was ultimately his decision to return to the lineup Tuesday for a game in which he was reinjured. . . . The Flyers will have a $1-hot-dog night Thursday when they host Carolina.

- Sam Carchidi