So far so good in Matt Read’s ‘last opportunity to prove myself’

VOORHEES — There were times, he admitted, Matt Read thought he was never coming back to the NHL.

Sent down to the minors in training camp and then only a four-game recall in late October, Read spent most of his season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. He was put in the same role as the Flyers are currently using him, a bottom-six winger who can kill penalties, and thus didn’t have numbers that leapt off the page: seven goals and 16 points in 33 games.

“Down there was kinda different,” Read said. “We had a vet problem down there (the American Hockey League requires 12 players in a lineup have 260 or fewer professional games) so I wasn’t playing every game. I was fresh when I got called back up. I was hurt for a little bit. I just felt like I haven’t played too many games and I probably have more energy than the guys here who had played 65 games.”

He returned with a clear focus in mind that an NHL playoff run is the best chance he has of keeping his career alive.

It wasn’t until his sixth game that he got into the lineup after he was recalled on Feb. 26, the day of the NHL trade deadline. Because he had been stowed in the minors, Read’s agent was given the green light to try and find a trade partner all season. Nothing came close enough for a trade.

Read, who will turn 32 in June, is in the last year of a four-year contract that carries a $3.635 million salary-cap hit. He won’t make that on his next deal, if he gets one, but is showing he can still play.

“Unfortunately, the points aren’t there, but since I’ve been up we’ve had a winning record,” he said. “For me to go out there and do the little things and help my linemates and teammates do a job every night and get the win is the most important.

“Yeah, I’ve been here before but it’s my last opportunity here to prove myself again. I’m not gonna let it slip away again. It’s been a good time so far and hopefully we can continue this playing good hockey here and play at home here.”

Read had only one point, a goal against Detroit, in the final 15 games of the regular-season but has played well enough defensively to remain in the lineup. Since he returned to the NHL and had been on the penalty kill, the Flyers improved by 4.3 percent while shorthanded in the regular season and finished at 79.4 percent.

Through two games in the playoffs they are 87.5 percent, due in part to killing all four of the Penguins’ power plays in Game 2 and allowing only three shots against in those eight minutes. Read had 5:30 of ice time Friday night on the penalty kill, usually with his old PK partner Sean Couturier.

“The moment he got called back up and started playing with us he had that step and he was making plays,” Claude Giroux said. “Defensively he’s very responsible. He’s playing some good hockey right now. Just like back in the day when he used to kill penalties with Coots, they have that in sync together and play well on the PK.”

“I think there’s one game during the regular season that he was in since he’s been back with us that his play was a little bit below the bar,” coach Dave Hakstol added. “Other than that, he’s been really dialed into his role. When a smart player like him has fully bought into his role, that makes a world of difference.”

There was never going to be any clamoring for a bigger role for Read. Not after being sent down to the minors for so long.

While he feared he might not make it back, he says he remained optimistic.

“Every situation I had I was always like, ‘OK, this is gonna happen’ or if there was something up here and someone got hurt I was always like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get a call,’” Read said. “I always felt like I was always gonna get another opportunity and I wasn’t gonna let it slip away if I did get another opportunity.”

However much longer the Flyers season goes, he’ll be aiming to prove that.

Dave Isaac; @davegisaac; 856-486-2479; disaac@gannett.com