James van Riemsdyk stepping up for Philadelphia Flyers as of late

The 2007 second overall pick has helped lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1-0 record in their last three games.

After suffering an injury that kept him out for most of October and riding a six game pointless streak in his return, James van Riemsdyk has finally turned into the offensive threat he’s shown he can be throughout his NHL career for the Philadelphia Flyers. JvR did go through a rough stretch where he tallied just one point in seven games during the infamous eight game losing streak, but helped lead the team to some solid victories with his play in the scoring department recently.

van Riemsdyk is currently riding a three game point streak, netting a total of seven points (5 Goals, 2 Assists) during that span. His hat-trick against the Minnesota Wild was the fourth of his career and second while wearing a Flyers uniform. He now sits sixth on the team in points with 21 in 30 games played. Don’t be surprised to see him rise from that position either, because he shouldn’t be moved from his first line role any time soon.

One thing that’s really stood out about JvR’s play recently is how much faster he’s looked on the ice. It can take time for some players to fully recover from a lower-body injury in terms of skating ability and that’s seemingly been the case for the 29 year-old forward this year. While it’s too little too late for Philadelphia to make the playoffs, the leadership van Riemsdyk has shown on offense will help younger players like Nolan Patrick and Travis Konecny gain more confidence and aid in their developments for the future.

He’s still struggled a bit in terms of production on the power-play, scoring just four goals on the man advantage which is tied with Wayne Simmonds for the team-lead, but did tally one in the Flyers last game vs the Wild. I think the new five forward unit can help get him going, with the promotion to the first power-play line being the most important factor. He’s been one of the few players this season who can actually can score with an extra man and his talents can’t be wasted by Assistant Coach Kris Knoblauch.

We’ll see if JvR can extend his point-streak to four games in Philadelphia’s next contest against the Boston Bruins where they will hope to earn their first winning streak of 2019.