Flyers' Jordan Weal thankful for his first NHL goal
The sweat poured off Jordan Weal as he thought back to where it all started. Weal scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday night and, though he was standing in a locker room deep in South Philly, his mind was in western Canada.
Weal, called up from the Phantoms on Feb. 10 and now playing on a line with Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, had been a goal-scorer his entire life – except for the first 18 games of his NHL career. He had nothing. No goals. No assists. Just a couple of penalty minutes he picked up last year with the Kings before he was acquired by the Flyers in the deal that sent Vinny Lecavalier and Luke Schenn to Los Angeles.
That drought ended Tuesday with a skillful deflection of a Radko Gudas shot in the second period past helpless Colorado goalie Jeremy Smith.
The goal was clean, but still there was drama.
Upon entering the zone, Simmonds barely managed to avoid being offside. It was close enough that Avalanche coach Jared Bednar challenged the play. After about 90 seconds – which must have felt like 90 minutes for Weal – the goal was upheld and the Wells Fargo Center again celebrated.
Weal, 24, was playing his fifth game of the season and his second since missing a pair of contests with an upper-body injury. One of the games he missed was a visit to his hometown of Vancouver, which the Flyers won on Feb. 19.
His postgame mission Tuesday — maybe even before hitting the showers — was to hear some familiar voices. The ones who didn't get to see him play against the Canucks.
"I'll just call the parents, probably analyze the game a little bit with my dad (Kelly). We'll talk about the goal and stuff," he said as he smiled.
"I can't thank them enough for all the stuff they did. Mom (Shelley) cooking meals, Dad driving everywhere at 5 in the morning, sisters (Rachel and Mackenzie) along for the ride."
Good hustle by linesman Scott Cherrey to scoop up the puck so that Weal would have it for posterity.
"I'll probably send (it) home," Weal said. "I've got a couple places I could put it back there, somewhere you can see it as a good memory. It was a lot of fun."
Fun has been a little elusive in Flyerland lately, whether it's the uncertainty and anxiety of Wednesday's trade deadline, the team's recent slide down the playoff standings or the captain having just one goal in the last five weeks.
As they came off the ice, with just their third win in nine games, Simmonds yelled toward Weal, "First of many, buddy."
"It's not the end goal to get your first one," Weal said, "but it's definitely a step. All that hard work you put in your whole life to get to this point is starting to pay off … Hopefully, we can keep it going Thursday (against Florida) and get another W."