NEWARK, N.J. — There was one Flyer who showed up ready to play at the Prudential Center on Sunday.
His name isn’t Jakub Voracek. He doesn’t have the playmaking ability of a game-changing player like Claude Giroux. You won’t find him grinding down low on power plays or taking a big faceoff when the Flyers need a key possession.
Figure out who we’re talking about yet? If you guessed Ryan White, don’t act surprised. The gritty forward was one of the very few, maybe the only, skaters wearing an orange and black jersey to show a spark in the Flyers’ 5-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils (see story).
White, a first-year Flyer, picked up his team’s first goal of the game when he tipped a Luke Schenn offering from the point past Devils netminder Keith Kinkaid in the first period. He wasn’t done there, either. White dished a beautiful pass to Michael Raffl on the Flyers’ shorthanded marker in the third.
In all, White finished with one goal, one assist, two shots, one hit and went 6 for 8 in the faceoff circle in his 11:44 of ice time against the Devils. Talk about effective.
But is it concerning to have a bottom-six forward carry a team fighting for its playoff life?
“No, it’s good,” head coach Craig Berube said after the Flyers’ loss. “I thought a lot of our workers played well tonight. Played hard and did a lot of good things. I think our top players, they mentally weren’t there.”
White skated on a new line with Michael Raffl and R.J. Umberger against New Jersey. He’s well aware of the Flyers’ grim playoff aspirations, but still remains optimistic.
NHL
“We’ve been in deep trouble all year,” White said. “Since I’ve been here we’ve been 13 points back or something like that. Just gotta stick together as a group, keep chipping away. All we control is the games that we play and we just gotta make sure we’re playing better than we did [Sunday] and give ourselves a chance to win every night.”
Off the Mark
Flyers defenseman Mark Streit had a night he’d like to forget against the Devils.
The 37-year-old veteran fumbled a puck in front of Steve Mason’s crease that landed directly on Adam Henrique’s stick on New Jersey’s opening goal and later had a brutal turnover in the Flyers’ offensive zone that sent Henrique and Steve Bernier on a breakaway in the third. Henrique picked up his second tally of the game off of Streit’s miscue after some nifty tic-tac-toe passing with Bernier.
After the game, Berube downplayed the notion that Streit, who was a minus-4, was worn down in the second half of a back-to-back set. The Flyers’ coach expressed his confidence in Streit and fully expects him to rebound against Dallas on Tuesday.
Where’s the help?
Speaking of breakaways, the Flyers left Mason hanging on at least three separate occasions on Sunday.
The Flyers’ netminder made a big save in the opening minute, but was beat by Henrique and Stephen Gionta on breakaways later in the tilt. Still, Mason wouldn’t let his teammates take the blame.
“I’ve gotta make a save though,” Mason said of the Devils' 2-on-0 rush in the third. “There’s times when you can come up with a big save and this afternoon I didn’t do that.”
Loose pucks
Brandon Manning appeared in his fourth game with the Flyers this season, logging 15:36 of ice time. … The secondary assist on Raffl’s shorthanded goal was credited to Mason, who now has three helpers this season. … Voracek has been held without a point in four of his last six games. … Luke Schenn was the only Flyer to eclipse 21 minutes of ice time (21:04). … Vinny Lecavalier was a healthy scratch for the seventh time in his last nine games.