Pronger Adds Assist In Preseason Debut
WELLS FARGO CENTER — Games don’t start counting for another week, but the Flyers won’t let that take away from a 2-1 win over the rival New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.
All eyes were on captain Chris Pronger, though who made his preseason debut. There was some question as to whether or not he would suit up before the regular season starts next week in Boston, but he showed interest in playing and Peter Laviolette obliged.
“It’s always good when he’s on the ice and in the room,” Laviolette said before the game. “It’s nice to get him back. We’ll see how the game’s going. I’m not going to say he’ll play 10 minutes and I’m not going to say he’ll play 25.”
Pronger said he felt fine in his first game in nearly five months.
“The first period there wasn’t a lot of flow,” Pronger said. “It was pretty choppy but quick and as the game settled in a little bit more structure you feel a little bit more comfortable and able to do obviously more things. Get into a few scrums. Get into a few pushing matches and kind of see how you feel and go from there.”
But he inferred that no one should expect to see him on Saturday, saying, “Let’s put it on my headstone that I won’t go to Newark for a preseason game.”
He finished the night with 19:35 of ice time and an assist on Wayne Simmonds’ second period power play tally.
Pronger worked the puck to Claude Giroux as the Flyers rotated the puck on the perimeter. Giroux fired on net and Martin Brodeur made the initial save, but on the doorstep, Simmonds got the rebound and wrapped it around the outstretched leg of Brodeur.
“You know what, I just tried to get in front of the net because that’s my job,” Simmonds said. “We worked the puck around well. G found a seam and he put it on net and I was able to get the rebound and put it in the net.”
The goal tied the score after the Devils struck first.
Starting goalie Ilya Bryzgalov looked sharper despite allowing a goal in the second period. He made a great save on David Steckel who got a feed on the back door after Matt Walker turned the puck over along the boards. But Bryzgalov couldn’t corral the rebound with his glove and Stephane Veilleux was along with an empty net and didn’t make any mistake about burying the puck for an easy goal. Bryzgalov had no chance to stop it.
Veilleux was a popular Devil, mixing it up several times with after-the-whistle scrums. He did drop the gloves early in the second period with Harry Zolnierczyk, but it was a short-lived bout as he took Zolnierczyk to the ice.
The winner came off the stick of Jaromir Jagr, which promptly broke after he buried the back-door power play tally at 12:48 of the third period. Once again Giroux was the magician behind the play.
“It was beautiful,” Jagr said. “It was a good pass. He was the only one who saw that I was waiting for it and was kind of hiding behind the net and then I just showed my stick. You know, I told you guys, too. You always have different passes. You have to be ready.”
Sergei Bobrovsky was perfect in relief, saving all 13 shots fired his way. After the switch, Bryzgalov marveled from the bench.
“I think he played great,” Bryzgalov said. “It’s nice to have a partner like Sergei. He is a great and talented goalie. He is young and in front of him is a great future.”
The Flyers will head to New Jersey for the back half of a home-and-home with the Devils to close their preseason slate on Saturday.
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