Flyers C Briere scores in return to ice

Mar 7, 2008 - 6:04 AM PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) -- Philadelphia Flyers center Daniel Briere had a triumphant return to the ice, scoring his 23rd goal of the season in Thursday's 3-2 victory over the the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Briere, who suffered a slight shoulder strain during Sunday's 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Rangers, missed Tuesday's 5-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

On Thursday, it did not take Briere long to contribute for the eighth-place Flyers (34-26-8), who moved three points ahead of the idle Buffalo Sabres (32-27-9) in the Eastern Conference.

After Tampa Bay opened the scoring 31 seconds into the game, Briere leveled the contest with 5:09 remaining in the first period.

After knocking down an attempted clearing pass in the neutral zone, R.J. Umberger skated over the blue line and fed Briere, who wristed the puck past Smith for his 23rd of the campaign.

Considering that one of the Flyers' primary leaders - All-Star Mike Richards - is expected to miss another week with a torn left hamstring, Briere knew he had to play through the pain.

"We have so many guys out right now that I wanted to get back," said Briere, who was inked to an eight-year, $52 million contract as a free agent last summer. "If I could come in there and provide a little spark and help us get a point or two, that's all I was looking for."

"Just the fact that he wanted to come back, I think, was a big boost for our hockey team," Flyers coach John Stevens said. "He does a lot of great things out there. He settled the power play down and he scores a goal. Those are the things that we want to see out of one of our leaders."

Although he was admittedly cautious, Briere said his shoulder felt better as the game went on.

"The toughest thing was when I was reaching for the puck or when the puck was going away from me, so I kept (the arm) close," he said. "It got better as the game went on. When you win, it kills a lot of pain."

Drafted 24th overall by Phoenix in 1996, Briere has reached the 20-goal plateau each of the last six seasons. In 550 career games with the Coyotes, Sabres and Flyers, the Quebec native has collected 185 tallies and 249 assists.