Flyers unsung heroes winning games

Offseason acquisition Ian Laperriere gives the home crowd some excitement during an encounter with the Washington Capitals. (Neat1325@/flickr)

It’s easy to look at the Flyers’ early season success and give all of the credit to players like Chris Pronger, Ray Emery, and James vanRiemsdyk who are all having great first seasons with the organization. It’s even easier to drop the usual names like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Kimmo Timonen who have obviously had a hand in the Flyers’ winning ways for a couple of years now.

The orange and black are no stranger to winning a lot of games whether home or away. Because of this and the amount of star talent already on the Flyers, a number of key players get lost in the fold and off of NHL regular season banter.

Anyone watching the 2009-10 Philadelphia Flyers night in and night out though knows quite a bit about some other guys who aren’t necessarily making headlines.

Ian Laperriere was signed this offseason to bring a veteran presence to the bottom half of the offensive unit. So far it has paid off in more than just bumper-car hockey and gloves on the ice. His shot blocking, defensive abilities, and nasty fore-checking have been an important part of the Flyers’ fourth line this season. It would be easy to write him off as a low-impact, energy forward with little in the way of ice-time without actually watching the team, but he has been the veteran leader on a line that specializes in making superstars regret taking the ice.

While he is not taking the faces, he certainly is the heart and soul of the Flyers’ checking line that Coach John Stevens remains unafraid to use regardless of the situation. He has regularly started games with Laperriere’s line out against the likes of Zach Parise, Derek Roy, Daniel Alfredsson, and Vincent Lecavalier.

If Laperriere went on the books as an under-the-radar offseason signing then none have gone more underthat radar than Blair Betts, who centers the Flyers’ checking line. Together Betts and Laperriere make up one of the best penalty killing forward tandems in the NHL, but Betts almost went unsigned this offseason. He was never given much credit outside of New York when he played for the Rangers, but when he came in to the Flyers’ Training Camp this summer, the team already had high expectations for him. His on-ice play earned him a contract, and he hasn’t looked back. His reliability in the face-off circle has also brought quite a bit of help to a team that has struggled on the dot in recent memory. There’s a reason the Flyers are 9-1-0 so far this season with Betts in the lineup.

Blair Betts has become one of the most important unsung heroes of the Flyers' early season. (Neat1325@/flickr)

The presence of Betts and Laperriere alone has also improved goal-scoring. While they are not going to put many pucks in the net, they do allow forwards like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Claude Giroux, Simon Gagne, and Scott Hartnell to get a break from killing penalties. The Flyers struggled last season at even strength a lot of the time because their best forwards had to focus on killing penalties as well as putting up offensive numbers. This year things seem to be changing for the better.

Not all the credit can go to those two though. Darroll Powe has certainly chipped in wherever he can. Though he is not a member of the Flyers’ specialized shut-down line (that also includes Dan Carcillo), he has found his role floating throughout the top nine as well as on the penalty kill. Powe, an undrafted signee out of Princeton University, was already well known in Philadelphia last season. His speed and effort made him stick out on the previous seasons’ bottom pairings, and his chemistry with Claude Giroux has paid off decently in the offensive zone as well. Though Powe does not have particularly good hands, he plays the game at mach 5. With his speed and tenacity he is able to find himself in the right place at the right time for Giroux to find him in front of the net. His six goals in 17 games played are a reward for his effort. He plays with one-hundred percent effort on every play causing lots of turnovers for other teams both on the fore-check and back-check. It’s also important to remember that he’s unafraid to throw a big check along the boards or even drop the gloves.

Darroll Powe constantly gets his name mispronounced on opposing team broadcasts. (Neat1325@/flickr)

There are many teams that have their role-players around the NHL, but perhaps none play with as much intensity and drive as these three have in Philadelphia. It takes players like Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Kimmo Timonen, and Chris Pronger to win in this league, but even so, championships are won on the backs of players who don’t always get their names in the paper.

Without these three players it’s easy to suspect that the Flyers would not be in the running for the Atlantic Division title so early in the season. They are vital to the Stanley Cup hopes of Philadelphia.