Flyers Notes: Flyers need to win on road

If the Flyers are going to hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1975, they need to find a way to win on the road.

Based on their Finals history, that has been a daunting task.

The Flyers have a 3-19 road record in Finals, including losses in the two games in Chicago this year.

They are 1-15 in road Finals since winning at Buffalo, 2-0, to capture the Cup in 1975.

The Flyers started this year's Finals with 6-5 and 2-1 losses in Chicago, which is where the series resumes on Sunday night. The Blackhawks are 7-3 at the earsplitting United Center in this year's playoffs.

After being a healthy scratch the previous two games, rookie left winger James van Riemsdyk returned to the Flyers' lineup Friday, and he had an assist in the third period. Dan Carcillo was scratched.

Early in the game, van Riemsdyk was on a line with Claude Giroux and Arron Asham.

In Game 1 of the Finals, van Riemsdyk had no shots and was minus-2. He didn't get an assist, but his forechecking helped set up the Flyers' second goal on Friday.

Carcillo was a combined minus-2 in his two Finals appearances.

Chicago left winger Andrew Ladd, who missed the first three Finals games with a shoulder injury, and defenseman Nick Boynton played in this year's Finals for the first time. Ladd had an assist in the third period.

Hawks defenseman Jordan Hendry and winger Adam Burish were scratched from the lineup. In Game 3, a puck deflected off Hendry and went to Ville Leino, who scored to make it 3-3 in the third period.

Both teams entered Friday looking for their top lines to erupt.

Mike Richards answered first.

Richards stripped defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson of the puck and scored a power-play goal on a spin-around shot at 4 minutes, 35 seconds of the opening period.

Entering the game, the line of Richards (minus-4), Jeff Carter (minus-5), and Simon Gagne (minus-6), was a combined minus-15. Chicago's top line - Jonathan Toews (minus-1), Patrick Kane (minus-2), and Dustin Byfuglien (minus-3) - was a combined minus-6.

Heading into Game 4, Flyers center Danny Briere was second among NHL playoff scorers this spring with 24 points - three behind Chicago's Toews, who had managed just one assist in the first three games of the Finals.

Briere, the top scorer in the first three Finals games with six points, was also second in the NHL with 11 goals, behind only Montreal's Mike Cammalleri (13 goals). He entered Friday four points behind the franchise record for playoff points, 28 by Brian Propp in 1987.

Leino, one of the Flyers' top playoff performers, left the ice midway through the first period after being hit by defenseman Brian Campbell. Leino received medical attention and returned about 10 minutes later. He scored a goal in the third period. . . . The Flyers went over the million home-attendance mark Friday for just the second time in franchise history. The figure includes a regular-season total of 800,966. . . . After Friday's first period, there were 25 goals scored in the series - 19 by different players. . . . Richards entered Friday with 10 power-play assists, tops in the NHL. Gagne, Toews, and San Jose's Joe Pavelski were in a three-way tie for the most power-play goals (five). . . . Chris Pronger entered Game 4 as the leading scorer among NHL defensemen with 17 playoff points (four goals, 13 assists). He was one point shy of the club's playoff record for a defenseman, set by Doug Crossman with 18 points in 1987. . . . With his three-point effort in Game 3, Giroux (20 points before Friday) vaulted from 10th to fifth among the NHL's top playoff scorers.