Saying he wanted to address the issue just once, Philadelphia coach John Stevens yesterday outlined his thinking on the bench during the waning seconds of Game 1 against the Penguins when incidents led to the Flyers' Daniel Carcillo being suspended by the NHL for Game 2 last night and Stevens receiving a $10,000 fine.

For Stevens, concern set in when Penguins winger Bill Guerin and Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn fought with seven seconds left in the third period.

"From my perspective, it looked like Bill Guerin bull-rushed Braydon Coburn," Stevens said. "Coburn's a character kid. He fights for his team and he stands up for himself, which I'm not surprised he did in that situation. Billy Guerin's a tough, gritty guy.

"So my interpretation at that point was I thought Guerin was probably thinking he was going to play against Coburn in the series, so maybe send a message."

The Penguins had a two-man advantage at the time, and Stevens sent Carcillo -- a rugged winger -- out for the neutral-zone faceoff.

"I don't want anybody taken advantage of," Stevens said. "I don't want anything stupid happening here. Let's just get through with [seven] seconds left."

Carcillo won the faceoff against Penguins centerMax Talbot, then hit Talbot in the head. There is dispute over whether Carcillo used his hand or the butt end of his stick.

"The league acted on it. Just like the Flyers always do, we take our punishment and go on," Stevens said.

The NHL, in issuing the suspension and fine, cited a crackdown on limiting incidents late in games intended to "send a message," and NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell clarified his stance yesterday.

"With [seven] seconds left, you have a player who never kills penalties, a player who never takes faceoffs, coming out on a five-on-three and doing what he did -- a repeat offender. So there are a number of criteria there that satisfy doing what we had to do. ... I don't want to filter everything out of the game. But we want to take the dumb stuff out of the game."

Stevens hopes the rules don't change at this point.

"Obviously, the standard's been set," Stevens said. "I'd like to see some consistency on that call the rest of the way."

Stevens noted the fine was his first as a coach. Beyond that, he had no serious reaction.

"I had to call my son this morning," he said. "My son John turned 15, and I told him I had to take all of his gifts back. I can't afford them anymore. He was a little upset."

Defensemen Kimmo Timonen (charley horse) and Randy Jones (death in the family) were not among the nine Flyers who took part in an optional skate, but both were in the lineup. ... With rookie Luca Sbisa moving from defense to winger to replace Carcillo, forward Darroll Powe was elevated from the fourth line to the third. ... Philadelphia scratched winger Riley Cote (finger).