Flyers Notes: Flyers' VandeVelde providing a spark for fourth line

RALEIGH, N.C. - Left winger Zac Rinaldo has been healthy for the last four games, but he can't get back into the lineup because of Chris VandeVelde's strong play on the Flyers' suddenly productive fourth line.

Rinaldo was sidelined for the sixth straight game - he missed the first two with an injury - when the Flyers played in Carolina on Friday night.

In an overtime loss to Colorado on Wednesday, VandeVelde injured his right leg. But he played Friday alongside center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and right winger Vinny Lecavalier, scoring the Flyers' lone goal.

"These three guys have chemistry right now and are working well together," coach Craig Berube said before VandeVelde scored the Flyers' lone goal in a 2-1 loss to the Hurricanes. "They're doing a good job at both ends of the ice."

Lecavalier, who has four goals in six games, has jump-started the line.

"We know Vinny can score, so me and Bellemare are hard workers who just try to give him the puck and work on the forecheck - and he's been burying them," VandeVelde said. "We just have to keep it going."

Bellemare said he and his linemates look at themselves as more than a checking line.

"We're hungry," he said. "When we're on the ice, we don't want to just get some time. We want to make good things happen, and the fact that Vinny is there, he's a big part of reminding us to have a good shift."

The Flyers end their eight-game, 7,297-mile road trip in New Jersey on Saturday night. . . . For the second straight game, defenseman Michael Del Zotto - who has recovered from a gruesome cut to his neck that required 20-plus stitches - was in the lineup, and Luke Schenn wasn't. . . . Berube said defenseman Braydon Coburn needs "more consistency" in his game.