Flyers' van Riemsdyk looking to contribute

BOSTON - Just a year ago, Claude Giroux was in James van Riemsdyk's shoes - a rookie in the playoffs with a load of expectations on his shoulders heavy enough to slow down a Mack truck.

Giroux shrugs it off now, saying that he was "lucky enough" to be able to score in the playoffs last year.

Giroux and van Riemsdyk are less than 17 months apart in age. Both were first-round draft picks. They live in the same apartment building in South Jersey. But they are in seemingly different worlds on this Flyers team.

Giroux could have been considered the Flyers' first-round MVP against the Devils. Van Riemsdyk hasn't scored a goal in the playoffs. Heading into last night's Game 2, van Riemsdyk hadn't scored in 11 straight games and has just one goal in his last 26 games.

In the Flyers' 3-2 loss, van Riemsdyk had two shots on goal and was a -1 in 12:42 of playing time, almost a 7-minute drop for him from Game 1 to Game 2.

But if you ask Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, the production of van Riemsdyk and the Flyers' other secondary scorers is just as important as Giroux, in the absence of Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne. He knows it will be tough to advance to the Eastern Conference finals without the help of van Riemsdyk.

"We need big performances out of guys like 'JVR' and [Scott] Hartnell," Laviolette said before last night's game. "We had two guys go down and then three guys go down. So, really, three lines were affected.

"Those guys have had the luxury of maybe being behind a guy like Simon or behind a guy like Jeff. They had the luxury of being in the second wave of the offense. They don't have that option anymore."

Van Riemsdyk, who turns 21 today, is frustrated. For much of the series against his hometown Devils, he looked unstoppable on a line with Giroux and Arron Asham.

The injuries to Carter and Gagne forced Laviolette to move Giroux to another line.

"Obviously you get comfortable with certain guys," van Riemsdyk said. "But it's hockey. You have to expect stuff like that. I'd like to play with a guy like 'G' but if the coach wants something different, that's what he wants. You can only worry about what you can control."

Few players on the team know van Riemsdyk like Giroux, who said JVR's frustration is apparent.

"I know he wants one bad," Giroux said. "He's playing well. I don't know. He's doing a lot of good things but he's not scoring. I think he needs to just keep shooting, he has been getting good shots. Any time he gets a shot off it's been a pretty good chance to score a goal."

The stats suggest van Riemsdyk, who had three shots on goal in almost 20 minutes of work in Game 1, is close to scoring a goal. Giroux has a hunch that van Riemsdyk will break through soon.

But, interestingly, Giroux said it might be best to not put too much pressure on him - which is surprising considering how close in age the two are.

"It's his first year, so you can't really ask him for too much," Giroux said. "If he keeps playing well, it will happen. I'm sure it's going to come pretty soon."

Van Riemsdyk knows the pressure is on. Hartnell has yet to score in the playoffs, too. And he isn't a rookie.

"It's an exciting opportunity, with two key guys hurt," van Riemsdyk said. "I think I created some pretty good chances in Game 1. I know it is going to be huge to get that secondary scoring.

"It's tough sometimes. Hockey isn't always about the numbers. But I'd love to bury a few to help the team out. I need to step that up and find a way to create some opportunities, bear down and bury a few."

Saturday's Game 1 delivered a national 1.6 metered rating, up 14 percent from the first game of last year's second round.

Philadelphia topped Boston for most watched market nationwide, edging the Hub with a 6.4 rating compared to 6.2. Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Nashville also tuned into Saturday's game among NHL markets.

Ratings are a percentage of all homes with TVs, whether or not they are in use.

Surprisingly, Orlando, Oklahoma City and Seattle were among the non-hockey markets that delivered strong ratings.

Overall, the NHL enjoyed its highest average first-round audience in 10 years in the United States and its best showing on cable since 2001 when ESPN/ESPN2 held the NHL broadcast rights.

Danny Briere ratcheted his point streak up to four games last night with an assist on Mike Richards' goal in the first period. He got a goal of his own in the second period . . . Exactly 10 years ago on this day, the Flyers fought through five overtimes to overcome Pittsburgh, 2-1, in the longest NHL game in history. Keith Primeau memorably beat Ron Tugnutt at 2:35 a.m. (technically May 5, 2000) in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Mellon Arena . . . Because of a busted water main that contaminated Boston's drinking water supply, TD Garden brought in 13,520 bottles of water and 18,720 bottles of soda as a substitute.

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at http://go.philly.com/frequentflyers.