'The Processer': Nate Prosser makes impressive Flyers debut

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Philadelphia sports world knows Joel Embiid as "The Process," and now, we have "The Processer."

In his Philadelphia Flyers debut, 34-year-old veteran defenseman Nate Prosser scored the team's first goal of the night against the New Jersey Devils. It was his first NHL game since January 2019 with the Minnesota Wild.

The Flyers swept their mini two-game series against the Devils on Thursday with a 3-1 win, which head coach Alain Vigneault was passively critical about postgame.

"They say never critique a win. I think a couple guys' performances in those first two periods were very disappointing," he said.

Prosser was not one of those guys.

"It was unreal," Prosser said postgame. "Words can't really describe it. I never gave up hope over the last few years."

Prosser signed with the Flyers in July 2019 but played for the club's American Hockey League affiliate Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the 2019-20 season. But the coronavirus pandemic canceled the rest of the AHL season, so Prosser hasn't played in an organized, professional hockey game since.

"Last year was down the whole year and the year ended in March, and not playing a game until tonight was kind of an eye-opening experience for me," he said. "I just wanted to get those first few shifts out of the way and get my legs under me because I was kind of a little winded there at the start, but I ended up finding."

Prosser was recalled from the taxi squad prior to Thursday's game because Vigneault wasn't thrilled with the play of some of the regular defensemen.

Vigneault said he liked what he saw from Prosser in training camp and thought he deserved a chance to play.

Prosser played about 13 minutes, four of which came on the penalty kill. He blocked three shots in addition to his goal — the first for him in the NHL since the 2017-18 season.

"(Prosser) played well," Vigneault said. "The minutes that he played were hard minutes. He played physical. Got us a goal off an offensive zone face-off. There's a good chance that Prosser might not be there very often on offensive zone faceoffs, but he was there. He was there at the right time on a face-off play that I think some of our guys had talked about and worked on, and it paid off."

Although Prosser hasn't been with the Flyers long, it's obvious he's already made an impression with his teammates.

" 'The Processer' played a solid game," joked longtime Flyers captain Claude Giroux. "He's a very smart hockey player, so he's always in good position. We're obviously really pumped when he scored that goal."

"He's also an absolute legend in the locker room," laughed left winger Michael Raffl.

"He's a huge team guy, so couldn't be more happy for him," Giroux continued.

It was somewhat fitting that Prosser, the second-oldest player currently on the Flyers roster, did his postgame press conference alongside 22-year-old goalie Carter Hart — the fourth-youngest teammate.

"We're all so happy for you," Hart told Prosser. "Best guy around."

Not even Prosser's mask could hide the big smile on his face in that moment.