Roenick: Voracek is 'heart and soul' of Flyers

NBC hockey analyst Jeremy Roenick tells NJ.com he's sticking with his pre-series prediction of the Flyers over the Rangers in seven games, despite Philadelphia trailing three games to two headed into tonight's Game 6.

Roenick had especially high praise for Flyers winger Jakub Voracek.

“Voracek plays the game the way I like the game to be played,” Roenick said. “So does Claude Giroux. He’s just stuck right now. If there’s no Claude Giroux on this team, there’s no playoffs.”

“I’ll tell you," Roenick continued, "I think every single player on that team should learn from and should play like Jakub Voracek. This guy is their heart and soul. He is a guy who plays exactly the same way every single night no matter who he’s playing against. I think he’s vastly underrated.”

Roenick credits Voracek for the Flyers ending their three-year losing streak at the Garden in Game 2 with a pep talk from the bench when the Rangers were up 2-0 and then beginning a comeback by scoring a breakaway goal.

“They go down 2-0 early in the game and all you see is Voracek telling everybody, ‘Calm down, boys. Let’s calm down. Let’s get back to work.’ You see him moving his hands talking to the guys. Then he goes out and scores the first goal for the team. That’s the guy I’m following.”

Source: Randy Miller, NJ.com