The Flyers' five game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres last Saturday, but since then, the Orange and Black bounced right back with a win over New Jersey and a win last night against the Los Angeles Kings as they started a five game road trip.
Brian Boucher picked up his first win in his return trip to Philadelphia, as he stopped 37 shots by the Kings, including 21 in an intense third period with the Flyers holding on to a one goal lead. He did let Jarret Stoll score on a soft goal in the first period, but after that, he was excellent between the pipes, keeping the Kings from scoring again until midway through the third period. The defense around Boucher was solid last night as well, as the Flyers managed to keep NHL points leader Anze Kopitar from recording a point for just the fifth time this season.
The offense played well last night, too. Although they only recorded 20 shots on goal, three of them found the back of the net, and last night, that was just enough. Mika Pyorala got the scoring started in the second period with his first career goal, then Mike Richards added his ninth of the year to put the Flyers ahead for the first time. James vanRiemsdyk put his sixth goal in the net early in the third period, and that proved to be enough last night for the Flyers. This offense has shown so far this year that they can score when they need to, and as long as the goaltending keeps holding up like it has this year, the Flyers could be looking at a long trip into the playoffs come April.
I can't say enough about how well James vanRiemsdyk has played this season. After having questions brought up about the pick, the Flyers have proven that they made a solid choice with this kid. In just 15 games this year, vanRiemsdyk has six goals and 11 assists. His 17 points put him in a tie for third on the team, as does his +8 rating, meaning that the Flyers do well when he is out on the ice. Not only that, but he's managing these numbers with just over 13 minutes of ice time a night on average. He's scored in three straight games now, and is looking even more comfortable out there on the ice each and every night. It's the exact thing that the Flyers needed to get from him coming into this season. He was a question mark, but so far this year, he's been nothing but a success story for this team.
It's like I said after the Flyers were beaten by the Sabres: this team is too good to let one loss get to them. In their past two games, they've beaten the New Jersey Devils for the second time this year, and now they've started their West Coast road trip with a very nice win. Ray Emery has been excellent in net, and Brian Boucher looked much better last night than he did in his first start this year. They have another four games on the road before they come back to the Wachovia Center late next week. With a quarter of the season already finished, the Flyers are going to have to keep playing at this strong level to keep up with the other good teams in the Atlantic Division. Right now, they're doing just fine, but they can't afford to slip up, even a little bit.
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