There are some things that the Flyers were counting upon this season.
That Claude Giroux would be healthy. That Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds would continue where they left off last season when both had career years.
What they didn’t count upon was this: Nine games into the fall, Michael Raffl would be tied with Simmonds for the club lead in goals with five.
The 25-year-old forward from Austria gave the Flyers their first goal Tuesday night during a tense 3-2 shootout victory against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings.
Giroux’s shot from atop went through bodies and Raffl got his stick on it in the slot on a turnaround move in front of Kings’ goalie Jonathan Quick.
“The key was, I wanted to come off as quick as possible and hit the net,” Raffl said.
That’s three goals for Raffl in two games, going back to Saturday’s two goals against Detroit – a career-first for him.
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A couple days ago, Flyers coach Craig Berube was yelling at Raffl to shoot the puck more. He had just one shot in Pittsburgh last week.
During Saturday’s win against the Red Wings, Raffl put just two shots on net but scored on both of them in the 4-2 Flyers win.
“I was trying to get it off quick and hit the net,” Raffl said of his shooting strategy. “He [Berube] was all over me in practice when I missed the net. So I tried to get it there.”
Injuries at the very start forced Berube to make changes with his lines. Raffl was moved to Giroux’s unit with Voracek in the third game of the season and has stuck there.
European players in the NHL often have unwarranted reputations for being soft when it comes to board battles and physical play, but when Raffl arrived here last season, he showed right away an ability to bang and often fights off defenders on the rush to make a pretty play at the end.
“He [Raffl] plays hard, and he competes,” Berube said. “He’s a strong player out there. He has good size and plays a straight-forward game. Again, he stopped at the net and got a goal. He’s doing a good job at going straight to the net and that is key. If you want to score goals in this league, you better get to the net.”
Tuesday’s victory put the Flyers are 4-3-2. They could end the month of October over .500 with a victory at Tampa Bay on Thursday.
No one would have expected that given the Flyers went winless in their first four games to begin the season.
“It’s been a tough start, but we came out of it,” Raffl said. “I think we battled through it, even with those injuries and I think we did a good job [against the Kings]."
Voracek, who had two assists in the game, agreed with his linemate.
“Yeah, obviously it’s a big pick up on a big win,” he said. “Especially because it’s the best team in the NHL and we battled hard today. I think we had a solid first and third period. It was a good game to watch.
“Yeah, they flew for over five hours yesterday. So the early jump was really important. We had 20 shots in the first period and scored two big goals, so we had a good start. We got sloppy in the second and picked it up in the third again.”