After a four-point effort against the Norfolk Admirals Thursday night, forward Steve Downie has been recalled to the Flyers to replace injured fourth-line center Darroll Powe.
After starting the season with the Flyers, Downie was sent to the minors after a careless slash earned him a two-minute penalty in the second period of the hotly contested match up. Jonathon Cheechoo scored on the power play and the Sharks climbed back into the game to eventually win in overtime. The next day, 
Downie was sent packing. Downie’s AHL stint was not eventless however. The pugnacious forward got into a scuffle with Tim Conboy of the Albany River Rats. As the fight went to the ground, Downie leaped up holding his hand and showing it furiously to the referee. The report was that Downie had been bitten by insensed Conboy and was bleeding with teeth marks dug into his hand.
“The report I got was that [Conboy] bit Downie on the hand,” said General Manager Paul Holmgren. “He had blood and teeth marks on his hand.”
Powe left the ice in the second period of Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers, limping and with a diagnosed concussion, after going into the side boards awkwardly. Powe logged only 4:10 of ice time, but showed a lot of energy and was playing a solid game before the injury. He tallied one shot and two hits, one of which knocked Thrashers’ rookie blueliner Zach Bogosian out of the game. Powe is day-to-day.
In other news, the Flyers have reportly changed their pre-game skate to the Wachovia Center as opposed to the Virtua Skate Zone in Voorhees, New Jersey. Because the ice at the Wachovia center is choppier and slower than that of the hockey-only Skate Zone, coach John Stevens believes that preparing with game-like ice will get the team off to a better start.
Phila.Bright 