In a surprising move that to me reeks a little of panic on the part of the Flyers, Jeff Carter will be joining Ian Laperriere in a return to the Flyers lineup for Game 4 today.

Carter returns to play one month and one day after surgery to repair a weight-bearing bone in his right foot.

Coming out of the lineup are Andreas Nodl (expected) and Dan Carcillo (unexpected).

Carter still appeared to be in pain while pushing hard on his right foot during the morning skate prior to Game 3 and seemed to be missing the burst at practice yesterday.

Still, the Flyers are bringing him back in a tough spot - a game where they need to have better speed and quickness at Bell Centre where the Canadiens seem to skate just a little harder.

It's even more perplexing of a move to replace Carcillo when Laviolette said Friday that he wanted his team initiating the physical play and instituting the edgy attitude necessary to win.

We'll see in about an hour how Laviolette will play it, but I think there are two possible line combos.

Either Carter will play wing with Richards and Gagne, leaving the other three line intact (with Lappy replacing Nodl on the fourth line), or he moves Giroux to the wing with Richards and Gagne and has Carter center Arron Asham and James van Riemsdyk.

Regardless of the lineup surprises, I still think the Flyers will win, but I don't like them winning comfortably as I did before this news. I think this makes for a much closer, tighter game.

Call it 4-3 Flyers... maybe in OT.