James Van Riemsdyk has been a player that could produce more, and show more in Philly. He’s a goal scorer and can be streaky at times. Somehow even with his streakiness the majority of the time he ends up with 20 to 30 goals per season, and he currently sits with 16 goals following last night’s victory. A victory in which he scored a goal by using his face inadvertently…not intentionally, “Not so much here or here, right here,” van Riemsdyk said following the game. “It more shocked me I think more than anything. When you get hit like that, it catches you off guard a little bit. Just happy that it’s all good and was able to come back and try to help the team.”
JvR showed no fear with getting back in front of the net. He also provided a net front presence on another Power Play, to which he tallied his second Power Play goal of the night. JvR seems to be skating better, he’s making himself look bigger, and JvR is just playing a good two-way game, “That’s where he scores all his goals,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said after the game. “Most of his goals are second opportunities in front of the net, tip-ins, screens. That’s where you score the goals. You’ve got to get in front of that net, near that blue paint. He certainly understands that. When he’s on top of his game, he’s doing that extremely well. He took one for the team.”
JvR needed a bounce back year following the playoffs last year, and to prove that he is not dead weight. He was very inconsistent last year, but this year he has tallied 16 goals, and 21 assists for 37 points in 46 games played to include nine Power Play goals. JvR had just four Power Play goals last season. He had to improve his net front presence from the prior years, and JvR has done for the most part, although he only managed three goals, and three assists for the month of March in 17 games played.
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van Riemsdyk is a class act, and he knows full well that there is another gear he could get to. He has shown that he is not a quitter, and has a ton of heart This is his moment to turn make fans believers. Sports is a crazy business. One moment a player could be down in the dumps, and the next he/she could have a bigger role. Enter JVR, a guy who knows how to put the biscuit in the basket. This is now JVR’s chance at redemption with the Flyers and the fans of Philadelphia.
