Danny Briere's empty netter to seal the Flyers' 3-0
win over the Devils last night was a huge weight off the forward's back.
It was his first goal in 23 games, the longest single-season drought of
his career. It seemed like forever between Briere tallies.
Imagine how it must have felt for his former
teammate, Mike Richards, who was mired in a 25-game goalless streak
before finally being credited with a goal in last night's eventual 5-2
Kings win over Detroit. Then imagine how it must have felt when there
was a scoring change, and Richards' goal was awarded to Drew Doughty,
who took the point shot that it had appeared Richards tipped in.
The team seemed to celebrate with Richards after,
but replay reviews later showed that Richie didn't get a stick on it
after all. So, unlike Briere, the monkey is still firmly attached to his
back. As Helene Elliott of the LA Times points out, the former Flyers
captain has just one goal since Christmas. Helene's a good twitter
follow if you want to keep up with the Flyers' ex-pats in LA.
Wayne Simmonds has scored a career high 22 goals
since joining the Flyers, and in an injury-shortened season, Brayden
Schenn has nine. In LA, Richards has so far managed only 14 in 62 games.
Kings fans can't be thrilled with the ROI on the trade so far, though I
imagine they're not particularly bothered by it this morning after the
Kings topped the Red Wings.
Plus, Jeff Carter would score on an empty netter,
giving him a goal in each of the last three contests and five goals in
his first nine games as a King.
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UPDATE: Richie did score an important shootout goal in a win over the weekend, which we had previously missed. So he has that going for him.