PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Hockey players are known for being some of the toughest athletes. They lose teeth. They get stitches in the middle of games. It takes a lot to remove them from the action.
A prime example of that happened in Thursday night’s 3-2 Flyers win at the New York Rangers. Forward James van Riemsdyk scored two power goals in the victory. Both of them were deflections — and the first one ricocheted off his face.
Ouch!
"Ultimately, that’s kinda part of the job description for me, as far as being in front of the net," van Riemsdyk said. "There’s lots of chaos there and stuff like that. I’ve been pretty lucky for most of my career, where I haven’t really taken too many pucks up high like that, but ultimately you wanna try and get out there and help the team and do what you can."
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It may be a cliche, but it's true: "Took one for the team," head coach Alain Vigneault said.
X-rays showed everything was all right, according to both coach and forward. Van Riemsdyk returned to the game, wearing an additional face shield that offered more protection to the bottom of his face around his chin.
Postgame, van Riemsdyk was asked to specify where the puck hit him, and the 31-year-old quoted the late actor and comedian Chris Farley from the 1995 movie "Tommy Boy."
“Not so much here, or here, but right here," he said.
"More shock, I think, than anything. Just, obviously, when you get hit like that — especially when you’re not really expecting it, when it’s a deflected puck — it kinda just catches you off guard a little bit. But, yeah, just happy that it’s all good and I was able to come back and try and help the team."
He certainly came back to help the team. Van Riemsdyk scored the go ahead power play goal in the third period.
It’s been a very disappointing season for the Flyers that will likely end with them missing the postseason. As of Friday night, there are 10 games left — so, while the playoffs are a long shot, it’s still important to see which players finish strong heading into 2021-22 and what kind of stories — such as van Riemsdyk's face goal — can emerge to lighten up the final couple of weeks.