BOSTON -- Expect Philadelphia Flyers wing Daniel Carcillo to assume his normal position on the team's top line Monday night as the club looks to stave off elimination one more time in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET, TSN2, CSN-PH, NESN).
Carcillo, who missed practice on Sunday with ailing right knee, skated Monday morning and appeared to have no major setbacks.
"I thought Danny looked good," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said.
Carcillo declared himself a game-time decision but, more than likely, he'll be in the lineup with his team's season on the line. The Bruins lead this series, 3-1. He told the media that the decision to play would ultimately be his to make.
"Two days off (Saturday and Sunday), I feel OK," Carcillo said. "We'll see come game time. Obviously, you want to be out there regardless of the game's (significance), especially, it's playoff time and it's so important. You don't want to let your teammates down. They've been battling all year."
Carcillo was apparently nicked up after colliding with defenseman Zdeno Chara with less than five minutes remaining in the first period of Game 4.
"I went to hit Chara and kind of got spun around," he said. "My knee kind of, I don't know, just a weird play. You want to play, but you don't want to be out there not playing to the best of your ability and hurting the team," he added. "That's the biggest thing you have to take into consideration."
Two other noteworthy items out of Philadelphia's optional skate Monday were defenseman Ryan Parent, who suffered a lower-body injury late in the second period of Game 4, will be in the lineup for Game 5. And Brian Boucher will be backed up by Michael Leighton for the first time in the playoffs.
Parent has been paired mostly with Lukas Krajicek. He saw just 4:24 of ice time in the Flyers' overtime victory Friday when Laviolette relied heavily on top two defensive pair of Chris Pronger-Matt Carle and Kimmo Timonen-Braydon Coburn most of the game.
"I just went a little awkwardly into the boards," Parent said of his injury. "But it wasn't anything. I just hit a bouncing puck, and just turned quick into the boards. My legs kind of went out from under me."
Leighton had been sidelined the final 13 games of the regular season and the team's nine games of the playoffs with a high ankle sprain. But he was a regular participant in practice and feels good to go.
"I'm ready," he said. "I've been mentally preparing for this game for a long time. I'm not playing, but you have to be ready for anything that happens so I've worked hard in practice the last week. I feel like if I had to go in for any reason, I'd be comfortable."
For the season, Leighton, who was claimed on re-entry waivers from Carolina in December, went 17-9-2 with a 2.83 goals-against average and .905 save percentage. He took the loss against the Bruins at the Bridgestone 2010 NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park on New Year's Day.
"I've wanted to come back for a long time and it's tough watching your team, especially down the stretch when we were just barely in a playoff spot coming down to the last game," Leighton said. "Those are the type of games you want to play in. I've never played in an NHL playoff game so I was really looking forward to that this year. I've been on the bench for quite a bit of (playoff games) but I've never actually played in one. This is just another step towards playing a game."
Follow Mike Morreale on Twitter at: @mike_morreale
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