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Will Van Riemsdyk continue to impact the Flyers throughout the season?

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Posted on Mon, Oct. 26, 2009

Flyers Notes: Van Riemsdyk reveling in early success

Flyers Notes

There's no denying the immediate impact James van Riemsdyk has had on the Flyers this season.

The highly touted rookie from Middletown, N.J., was tied for second on the team with six assists entering last night's game against the San Jose Sharks.

But van Riemsdyk will tell you that none of his early success compared to netting his first NHL goal Saturday in the third period of a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers.

"It's something you dream about your whole life," he said yesterday. "And for it to finally happen was pretty cool."

Van Riemsdyk missed two of the Flyers' first eight games after suffering a concussion in an Oct. 6 win against the Washington Capitals. Now that the injury is behind him, the left winger can focus on maturing as an NHL player.

"I have confidence in myself," the 20-year-old said. "I trained hard throughout the summer. I thought I was ready to come in and make an impact, and the coaches put me in some good situations with some really good players. And it's not too hard to produce when you're playing with some really good players."

Flyers coach John Stevens teamed van Riemsdyk with Jeff Carter and Danny Briere on Saturday, and the line combined for 20 scoring chances.

The Flyers made van Riemsdyk the second overall pick in the 2007 draft. He is well aware of the expectations surrounding him, and he fully expects to meet them.

But long after Saturday's game, he was still relishing that first goal.

"I was really wired all [Saturday] night after the game," he said. "It was tough getting to sleep."

Called up

The Flyers recalled defenseman Oskars Bartulis from the Adirondack Phantoms. Bartulis, a third-round draft pick of the Flyers in 2005, has two goals and one assist in eight games with the Phantoms this season.

- Chris Melchiorre

Comments

Posted 11:22 AM, 10/26/2009

dri_as_a_bone

Still don't see the Flyers playing any kind of a system to create and sustain offensive zone pressure. The "up & down" style ther're playing reminds me more of basketball.

Posted 01:23 PM, 10/26/2009

Monster Joe

Go Phils!

Posted 01:51 PM, 10/26/2009

Ct Flyer Fan

He needs to learn how to finish. The puck does find him. Nice breakaway goal....

Posted 02:18 PM, 10/26/2009

elmeaux_b

JVR will only continue to get better...

Posted 02:21 PM, 10/26/2009

JerMeB

Congrats to JVR. Even though its only been a couple of games he has looked really good. All those comments from people who had him labelled as a bust before he even played can suck it.

Posted 06:12 PM, 10/26/2009

zwarte piet

what is the point of redoing philly.com so that it irritates the hell out of people who use internet explorer with videos that load every time you navigate to a new sports article. yeah, the easy solution is to use another browser and the problem goes away, but why put people to that inconvenience. its not like the autoloading videos even show advertisements, so what is the point. then to top it off, there are no surveys about what people think and no formal way to express your displeasure..