Photo Courtesy of Kate Frese
As the Flyers visited Los Angles' Staples Center several weekend to close out a quick Western road jaunt, Matt Read found himself watching from unfamiliar territory — the press box.
For the first time in his five NHL seasons, Read found himself out of the lineup as a healthy scratch. But from there, Read learned the hard way that so much can happen in the span of a week.
Read found himself back in the lineup for the next game against Montreal, but did not make much of an impact in the Flyers' 4-3 win over the Canadiens. In 14:46 of ice time, Read posted a minus-1 rating and fired just one shot on goal.
His ice time was shaved by 17 seconds in the following game against Minnesota, but he was a much more productive player. He tallied six shots — tying a season-high — yet still did not record any points. As the old cliche goes, you can't score without shooting the puck, and the opportunities that he was able to generate were still helpful.
Saturday's 4-0 win over the New York Islanders was, by and large, Read's best game of the season. His goal at 10:58 of the third period put the Orange and Black up 3-0. and prior to that, he added assists on goals from Michael Raffl and Evgeny Medvedev. Read's three-point effort was his first multi-point effort of the season, and most points he had in a game since March 25, 2015.
The decision to leave Read out of the lineup against the Kings wasn't exactly a move of desperation, but it still made sense. He had scored only twice in the team's past 22 games, and was riding a seven-game goalless drought. He had seen time on a penalty-kill unit that was continuing to plummet (averaging 1:41 of shorthanded ice time per game), and there were plenty of night where it seemed like he was essentially absent from the lineup.
When Read joined the Flyers at the start of the 2011-12 season, he wasn't exactly pegged as a world-beating talent. However, he was a steady presence in the lineup, and defied expectations with 24 goals and 47 points over 79 games — after all, what much was expected from a 26-year-old rookie in his first pro season out of Bemidji State University? That performance was followed with 11 goals and 24 points the following season, which would pro-rate to 21 goals and 47 points had the bulk of that season not been lost to the lockout.
Last season, however, saw Read experience steady decline, with eight goals, 30 points and a career-high 33 turnovers in 80 games. Much of his poor performance, however, was attributed to the fact that he was playing through a high-ankle sprain for the bulk of the season.
Ultimately, he was not living up to be the steady middle-line winger that he established himself as in his early seasons, and that carried over into this season. He's found himself as part of eight different line combinations, in the Flyers' long journey for secondary scoring depth.
Healthy scratches are often a go-to for coaches to help motivate players — essentially, a way of saying "if you can't perform, somebody else will." Sometimes, players will respond accordingly once re-inserted into the lineup, and other times, it eats away at a player's confidence and attitude — something Flyers fans have been used to in recent seasons (see also: Lecavalier, Vincent).
It was a matter of time before Read found himself watching a game or so from the press box as a healthy scratch, and fortunately for him, his exile lasted only one game. His response couldn't be scripted any better either, as his performances on the ice steadily improved and culminated in his strongest performance of the season.
There's no way of telling how long Read can keep up this momentum. He may very well post another multiple-point effort this week, or he may go back to his goal-drought ways. He may even find himself back in the cozy confines of the press box as another healthy scratch.
That strong Islanders performance also may very well have been a fluke. Historically, Read has been at his most dominant against the Islanders. His 11 goals scored against them are far more than he's scored against the 28 other NHL teams (next is Florida and Buffalo, with six apiece) and his 18 points represent the most he's scored against any other team.
It's far too soon to determine whether or not he's regained his swagger for good after being healthy scratched, or if he's just streaking into a few decent performances. Either way, the momentum is in his favor for now, and his renewed vigor over the small sample that is the past few games shows how he can respond in the face of a healthy scratch.
Rob Riches is a contributor to Flyerdelphia and Sports Talk Philly. Follow him on Twitter @Riches61
