Rough start has Flyers flipping lines

NEWARK, N.J. -- Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette did some line tinkering Tuesday in preparation for this team's meeting with the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center.

The Flyers, who have opened the season with two straight losses for the first time since 2008-09, are looking for some sort of spark three games into the shortened season.

The biggest change comes on the top line, where Jakub Voracek will supplant Brayden Schenn at right wing, and skate with center Claude Giroux and left wing Scott Hartnell.

Schenn will center a line with Wayne Simmonds and rookie Tye McGinn, who was called up Monday to replace injured Zac Rinaldo in the lineup. McGinn and Schenn had some chemistry working on a line together this season with Philadelphia's American Hockey League affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms, earlier this season.

McGinn, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward, had 11 goals and 52 penalty minutes in 33 AHL games this season.

"It's a division opponent and this is the third game of 48, so we have to change our attitude and maybe the new lines will provide a spark," Hartnell said. "We have to treat this as a game to get us into playoffs, especially what happened last year. It has to be a huge effort by everyone."

While Laviolette wouldn't discuss the new line combinations he implemented at practice, he did hint that a change probably was called for.

"We've talked about it and certainly, when you finding you're not getting the results you want, the urgency level goes up and I think that's where we're at," Laviolette said. "I won't discuss the lines, but I think when you find success, you tend to leave things alone. When you're not getting the success, even offensively, you look at lines and combinations to see where you're at."

Rinaldo, who will be sidelined at least seven days, received a skate cut above his right knee after colliding with Buffalo Sabre defenseman Robyn Regehr. The cut required 20 stitches to close.

In addition to McGinn, defenseman Bruno Gervais will make his season debut, paired with Andrej Meszaros. Gervais is replacing Kurtis Foster in the lineup.

Here's the lineup the Flyers likely will use against the Devils on Tuesday:

Scott Hartnell - Claude Giroux - Jakub Voracek

Wayne Simmonds - Brayden Schenn - Tye McGinn

Maxime Talbot - Scott Laughton - Eric Wellwood

Ruslan Fedotenko - Sean Couturier - Matt Read

Kimmo Timonen - Luke Schenn

Braydon Coburn - Nicklas Grossmann

Andrej Meszaros - Bruno Gervais

Ilya Bryzgalov

Michael Leighton

Injured: Danny Briere, Zac Rinaldo, Kurtis Foster

Scratched: Jody Shelley, Tom Sestito