The Philadelphia Flyers were mad at the Pittsburgh Penguins for many reasons on April 1. One big reason was that the massive series of fights at the end started when Danny Briere was taken out, which put the Flyers in grave danger. Philadelphia fans like myself are getting used to Briere dominating in the Stanley Cup playoffs, yet his status had become uncertain going into Game 1 against those same Penguins.
But 10 days after being knocked out for the rest of the regular season in Pittsburgh, Briere opened his third postseason with the last laugh. For that matter, so did the Flyers as they stormed from a 3-0 deficit on April 11 to steal a 4-3 overtime win, thanks to Briere kicking the comeback off.
No one from the Flyers did anything for the first 25 or so minutes, as the Penguins looked ready to blow them off the ice - in Game 1 if not the entire series. Yet the postseason has been Briere's time to shine the last two years - and that didn't change in spite of his layoff.
Although he may have gotten away with an offside, the missed call is just what Briere and the Flyers needed, as his breakaway put them on the board. But it took until almost halfway through the third for them to strike again, as a second goal from Briere put the Penguins on notice.
Since they didn't listen, Briere was able to draw a interference penalty moments later, which led to the tying goal. After that, the Flyers didn't need him to help out with the overtime winner, although they wouldn't have gotten to that point without him.
Philadelphia might not have reached the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals or even survived the one round it did win in 2011 without Briere, so it makes sense. With his two goals, he now has 61 points in just 58 playoff games for the Flyers, including 31 goals overall. And with 98 points in 98 games in his entire postseason career, it is nice to count on him for at least one point a game in April, May and June.
With that history, it may be no wonder why the Penguins had him taken out days earlier - but they didn't do it hard enough. They left enough wiggle room for him to return, and now it will cost them their season if they can't rally from a loss like this.
Pittsburgh may have the two biggest weapons in the sport in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But they can't seem to match up to Briere in the playoffs - although they do still have one more Stanley Cup than he does. However, the Flyers' hopes for knocking out the Penguins and drawing even in Stanley Cups are far improved with Briere out there this time of year - even at less than full strength.
Robert Dougherty is a life-long Philadelphia resident and a Flyers fan since the age of eight.
Other stories from this contributor
Penguins can't even hold lead over Flyers in playoffs
Flyers look to break postseason losing streak to Penguins
Flyers try to keep up road success in Pittsburgh
Flyers hope Bryzgalov rewrites his postseason history
Flyers to take another step backwards in Stanley Cup playoffs
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