Richards continues to pay dividends for Flyers

Dec 17, 2008 - 11:23 AM By Bill Bernardi PA SportsTicker Staff Writer

After signing a 12-year, $69 million contract extension last season, Mike Richards once again found himself on the receiving end of some good fortune on Tuesday.

Benefiting from an advantageous bounce, Richards scored a goal and added two assists as the Philadelphia Flyers notched their fifth straight victory with a 5-2 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche.

Named the 17th captain in franchise history before the season, Richards extended his career-high points streak to eight games with his second consecutive three-point performance as the Flyers (17-7-6) improved to 13-1-3 in their last 17 contests.

After the 23-year-old set up Mike Knuble with a brilliant feed to the doorstep in the first period, Richards netted his 13th tally of the season - thanks to a rather fortunate bounce.

With 7:18 remaining in the second period, Simon Gagne alertly slipped the puck to Richards in the slot. The Ontario native unleashed a shot that sailed over the net, but the puck caromed off the glass, off both the top of the net and goaltender Peter Budaj before trickling down into the crease.

In an attempt to clear it out of harm's way, Colorado defenseman Scott Hannan inadvertently knocked the puck past Budaj and into the net.

"I don't know how it went in, but it did," Richards said. "When you're playing well, you are getting bounces. If it hit the glass, I don't think that it is going to go in, but that is what happens when things are going well."

That's a far cry from how the team started the season. While the Philadelphia Phillies were winning the World Series, the Flyers dropped their first six games while plummeting to the basement of the Atlantic Division.

"At the beginning of the year, we weren't doing a whole lot of things right," Richards said. "We were trying to push offense too much. To tell you the truth, I think we thought it was going to be too easy after last year's playoff run. We were just getting outworked.

"Now we are starting to work a little bit harder and we are getting some bounces and the wins are coming."

Philadelphia coach John Stevens credits the Flyers' fortune to hard work.

"I've always been a believer in the harder you work, the more bounces you get," Stevens said. "We have had some good bounces lately.

"I thought the first six games of the season, we had some unfortunate bounces. It just seemed like the harder you worked, the bounces turn in your direction. They have a way of evening themselves out."

Hard work is not a foreign term for Richards, who won the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the Flyers' most valuable player in 2007-08 after leading the team with 47 assists and 75 points in 73 games.

Drawing comparisons to Clarke, one of the greatest players in club history, Richards leads the Flyers with four shorthanded goals and 24 assists this season.

With a blossoming resume, perhaps it should come as no surprise that Richards knows the value of the Flyers' recent success.

"If you take advantage of these points early in the year, hopefully you can bank them and get some on the road, too," he said. "These games that we are getting are going to be big points-wise down the stretch."