When Craig Berube was forced to choose a new left wing for his top line to replace the injured Michael Raffl, he didn't look to his second or even third line.
Berube plucked Chris VandeVelde off the fourth line.
He overlooked Brayden Schenn, who auditioned for the spot for two games to start the season then got bounced.
After one period against the Florida Panthers Thursday night, Berube still wasn’t satisfied and again bypassed Schenn in favor of right wing Wayne Simmonds, who was forced to move to the left side.
Maybe that’s why Schenn played some of his best hockey in ages during the Flyers' 4-1 win over the Panthers, using his body, fighting through checks, setting up two goals and playing with the kind of determination we haven’t seen in a while.
Schenn was plus-2 — his best outing this season.
Thing is, when asked Wednesday in practice about being passed over on Claude Giroux’s line, Schenn gave rather short, dismissive answers, an indication he seemed miffed.
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Who could blame him? Two games to start the season didn’t offer enough time to show what he could do.
So you have to wonder if his performance Thursday night was a display for Berube.
“No, not at all,” he said. “I thought we had a pretty strong game and I’m sure he didn’t want to tinker with our line."
Which is also what Berube said.
“Obviously, it might take a little bit of time to get familiar with Jake (Voracek) and Giroux. You know they play a fast paced game, puck possession style game so we’ll see what happens.”
Both of Schenn’s assists came in the first period as the Flyers scored quickly to give goalie Steve Mason his second, 2-0 lead at the start, something this team was unable to do for him in any appearance in October.
“Well, last game we got off to a good start and we talked about it in the room before that we need to get off to a good start again and get on them early,” Schenn said.
“They probably had a tough game in Boston on Saturday night so we tried to jump them early and there were a couple of plays that we capitalized on.”
That line with Sean Couturier and Matt Read finished the Panthers’ game with one goal, four assists and five points and were a combined plus-6, their best performance so far in 13 games.
They'll remain together Saturday night against the struggling Colorado Avalanche.
“Pretty good,” Schenn said. “It’s only been three games so far, but I think all three of us like I said the other day we can’t rely on Jake and Giroux to score us goals every night.
“Obviously, we’d like them to, but in this league it’s not going to happen every night, so you’re going to need some secondary scoring and I think the three of us have some good chemistry as long as we play good defense the offensive chances will come.”
Schenn looked like a confident player in this game.
“It took a little bit of time for me to adjust to left wing," he said, "and I’m starting to feel more comfortable out there and more confident with the puck, and when you’re more confident I guess you see the ice a little bit better and I feel good out there right now.”
This was the best game Couturier has had since accruing three points against Pittsburgh last month and only the second time this season he was plus-2.
The coaching staff has made it their mantra this season to get more offense out of a guy who would rather be a Selke Trophy candidate than a Maurice Richard Trophy winner. Couturier has four goals.
“I think we are three guys that can make plays with the puck,” Couturier said. “We like to play with the puck and I think we try to keep it as long as we can and by doing that we have puck possession and we can create chances off of that.
“I was kind of just going to the net. Lately, I’ve had a bit of struggling, but I just wanted to keep it simple and go to the net and those are the type of goals you need when you are struggling.”