Laperriere Sparks Flyer Turnaround

Laperriere playing with full face shield

A player’s true worth cannot be determined by his number of goals and assists alone.  A classic example is Philadelphia Flyers’ winger Ian Laperriere.

In a December 21st game at the Wachovia Center, Philadelphia was in the midst of sleepwalking through a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers.  The latest defeat gave the team a record of 3-13-1 over their previous 17 contests.  The free fall knocked Philly into 14th place in the Eastern Conference standings, and put the Orange and Black in serious danger of dropping out of any chance of contending for a spot in the post-season.

In the third and with Philadelphia lethargically trailing 4-0, Laperriere laid a thunderous hit on Panther defenseman and former-Flyer Dennis Seidenberg, drawing a 5-minute major for charging.  Seidenberg immediately challenged and Ian obliged.

After the game, Laperriere said “I’m mad, and hopefully my teammates are mad, too“.

Three fights, a game misconduct, and 35 PIMs in all.  If a goal, an assist, and a fight is a Gordie Howe hat trick, Lappy completed the Bob Probert hat trick that night.

The aftermath of Pominville's slapshot - almost 100 stitches, 7 teeth lost

Laperriere had ditched a full face shield from his helmet against the Ottawa Senators in a game at the Wachovia Center on December 10th.  During a TV timeout I watched Lappy, frustrated from not being able to see a puck in his skates, angrily take his helmet off at the bench and toss it to Derek Settlemyre, who promptly took the face shield off.  That was the last time he wore the shield.

This is a guy who had basically broken his face a month previously.  He needed upwards of 100 stitches to sew himself back to a form of recognizability, and lost 7 teeth in the process of blocking Pominville’s slapper.

What kind of message did Laperriere send his teammates that night at the Wachovia Center?  Even if nothing was said behind closed doors, Lappy made it damn well known that he wasn’t about to give up on the season, and went out and showed his teammates as much.  Three fights with an already broken face…talk about leading by example!

I believe that it’s no coincidence the Flyers’ record since that loss to Florida in late December is 17-7-1.  Laperriere has proven to be a tremendous off season UFA signing and valuable member of the team.  If this year’s edition of the Flyers ends up making any kind of deep run in the playoffs, many will look back at a cold, snowy night in December when the player that was probably the least physically able to make a stand did just that.  And the rest of the team has followed.

__________________________________________________________

You can follow me on Twitter, my user ID is @PhilaDAVEia, and “friend” me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/davidstrehle.  If you have any comments or questions, you can also contact me via email at davidstrehle@puckdrop.ca