The sell-out crowd at Wells Fargo Center gave Mike Richards a standing ovation early in the first period when the Flyers organization displayed a classy message on the jumbotron: “Thank you Mike Richards: For all of your contributions and services to the Flyers organization and our fans.” The warm reception lasted until about halfway through the first period when a portion of fans started booing every time Richards touched the puck for the Kings. Welcome back to Philly, Mike!
It was another former Flyers who made his mark on the game. Justin Williams scored a pair of Kings goals as Los Angeles finished their 4-game “road” trip with a 3-2 overtime win in Philadelphia. The Kings have been on the road since the preseason when the left for Las Vegas on September 30th. They finish the trip with a 2-1-1 record and start the home portion of their schedule on Tuesday against the St. Louis Blues.
There are plenty of ex-Flyers on the Kings roster and ex-Kings in Philadelphia, but the man of the hour was certainly ex-captain Mike Richards making his return to Pennsylvania. Between periods, Richards said that “Philadelphia is a funny place” and he understood that he would hear some boos now that he’s wearing an opponent’s jersey. He probably heard a few more boos after his beautiful pass was deflected by Jack Johnson for the overtime game-winner.
Afterwards, he answered the “coming back to Philly” questions for the last time this season:
Not all of the news was great for the Kings on Saturday night. Drew Doughty took a big hit only 24 seconds into the game and eventually left with an “upper body” injury (not related to the head). He’s expected to miss 7-10 days for the Kings.
The overtime loss is the first defeat for the new-look Flyers on the young season. Even with the loss, the Flyers have still navigated the tough early season as well as anyone could have hoped. They’ve already noted victories against the New Jersey Devils, and both Stanley Cup finals participants from a year ago (Vancouver and Boston). They’ll finally get a much deserved rest when they faceoff against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday.