Jakub Voracek’s three missed games were even more painful than his hit to the head might suggest. Watching from the press box was hard for the first-year Flyer, but he made up for lost time with a goal and an assist in the Flyers’ 3-0 win last night over the New Jersey Devils.
“It wasn’t great to sit out three games, but there was nothing I could do about it,” the 22-year-old right-winger said. “I think after that hit, I’m happy to be back in a week.”
Voracek took a huge hit from Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall on March 6 and finally passed a concussion test on Saturday.
“It was a little tough the next two days [after the hit],” Voracek said. “I was pretty tired but after I started skating on Friday, and I was skating all weekend, I felt pretty good.”
Against New Jersey, he was the most noticeable Flyers forward on both ends of the ice. He had a takeaway, got a goal and an assist. And he wasn’t the only returning member.
Kimmo Timonen’s ironman streak of 248 games ranks sixth on the Flyers’ all-time list, but it stopped March 1. The battle to remain in the lineup was one of the few he has lost in his career. The soon-to-be-37-year-old defenseman had been dealing with nagging injuries and was told he would have to take a seat and rest up for the playoffs.
“It’s tough, but sometimes it’s part of the game,” Timonen said. “Sometimes, it happens and it’s one of those things where you think about taking a break somewhere down the road, and we felt like that was a good time to take it and hopefully it will last until the end of the year.”
Ilya Bruzgalov’s shutout win was his third in a row. His shutout streak is now at 196:13. The last Flyers goaltender to have three consecutive shutouts was John Vanbiesbrouck who did it on Oct. 20, Oct. 22 and Oct. 24, 1999. Vanbiesbrouck’s streak ended at 227:04.
