Homeward Bound, Habs Downed 2-1

When former Philadelphia Flyers captain Mike Richards was unceremoniously traded in the summer of 2011, it wasn’t by choice. Richards had signed a twelve-year deal believing that he would be a Flyer for life.

Professional hockey is a business, of course, and he settled in well in Los Angeles. When Richards made his return to the Wells Fargo Center in October of 2011, though, he was probably surprised to hear fans quickly boo him once the game got going.

Danny Briere found himself in a similar situation this offseason when a reduced salary cap all but forced the Flyers to use a compliance buyout on the remainder of his contract. His return to Philadelphia tonight in the bleu, blanc et rouge included a “Thanks for the Memories” style tribute video, but how would the fans react?

Pretty mildly, it turns out. Unlike Richard’s return, when he earned an assist on the game-winning overtime goal from Anze Kopitar, Briere had a fairly quiet game, registering three shots in 14:13 of ice time.

The fans also had better reasons to shout- the Flyers outshot and, more importantly, outscored the Canadiens 2-1.

Head coach Craig Berube praised the “character” on the roster for how the team followed up an embarrassing final 40 minutes in Chicago on Wednesday evening with a workhorse effort the next night.

“I was happy with the way we skated tonight, though you never know when you come back off a long road trip how you’re going to come out, but they were competitive right away,” said Berube in the post-game press conference.

Although Sean Couturier took a high sticking penalty earlier in the game, it was a penalty bred from overzealousness in compete level as opposed to a lazy defensive play. The penalty killers played soundly in closing down the Canadiens’ powerplay and provided a solid effort at both ends of the ice.

Just past the halfway mark of the first period, Jake Voracek held the puck behind the Canadiens’ net and then broke away from a defender, passing the puck in front to a wide open Michael Raffl. Raffl roofed it past goaltender Carey Price for his 2nd NHL goal and second in the last three games.

Raffl replaced Scott Hartnell on the top line for the second time this season, but looked much more confident this time around. Instead of the “pass first, don’t make a mistake” displays, Raffl was taking on more responsibility in the offensive zone.

Berube’s reasoning for the change was that, “He’s a quick player, strong on the puck. Getting more pucks on net, not missing the net so much… so I thought I’d try it.”

The opening of the second period left a lot to be desired, with the defense falling back on bad habits early in the period. Braydon Coburn (who had a strong game overall) tried to skate the puck from behind the net right around the crease and nearly turned the puck over at a dangerous area.

An interference penalty to defenseman Alex Emelin was all but wasted as the Flyers either flubbed offensive zone entries or bobbled the puck and allowed shorthanded rushes to develop.

For a brief moment near the mid-point of the game, Berube appeared to keep brand new Flyer Chris Vandevelde planted to the bench, resulting in Brayden Schenn temporarily replacing Raffl on the top line. On an ensuing offensive zone rush, Schenn skated down the middle and dished the puck to Voracek on the wing. Voracek then fed it cross-ice to Giroux, who beat Price up high and tallied his sixth goal of the season.

I’m not convinced that Raffl is the right player to serve as the third man on the top line, but considering two separate players scored with Giroux and Voracek tonight, it seems pretty obvious that Scott Hartnell should stay far away from that line for the foreseeable future.

Steve Downie left the game in the second period after he appeared to take an elbow to the face from Alex Emelin, but was able to return unscathed shortly thereafter. Emelin was ejected from the game and the Flyers were awarded a five minute powerplay.

While it’s a relief that Downie remained uninjured, considering he already missed games this season with a concussion, either he grossly embellished the hit or was actually hurt in the noggin and shouldn’t have been playing anyway. In any event, his return should mitigate any kind of additional punishment Emelin may have received otherwise.

The Flyers began to unravel late in the game, nearly allowing the Habs to jump back into the game before a quick goal was disallowed for being pushed into the net with a glove. Once again, it was sloppy play in the defensive zone- this time between Giroux and Voracek, who did not attempt to clear the puck with any kind of urgency and allowed the Habs to swarm.

Steve Mason missed earning a shutout by 55.1 seconds, but still stopped 20 of 21 shots for the win. He wasn’t tested much throughout the game, but he came up big when the Flyers inevitably allowed two or three odd man rushes that he stopped cold.

Mason earned four minutes of penalties after the game ended, as he took umbrage to Canadiens captain Brian Gionta holding his stick under his armpit in the waning seconds of the game. Mason punched Gionta in the back of the head, and then threw another cross check before Brendan Gallagher tackled him and Matt Read and company joined in the fracas.

The Flyers have two home-and-home series in the next four games between the Washington Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Capitals will be another strong test, considering how the team infamously imploded against them weeks ago. The Flyers are actually tied with the Blue Jackets in points as well, suggesting that, like the show “Whose Line Is It Anyway,” “the points don’t matter.”