Flyers' Raffl used benching as motivation

Flyers forward Michael Raffl had plenty of motivation Saturday after an inactive Friday.  Raffl was a healthy scratch Friday night in a 6-3 loss at Toronto.

He was back in the lineup Saturday and played a huge role in the Flyers' 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild at the Wells Fargo Center.

Raffl made a pinpoint pass that resulted in Michael Del Zotto's second-period goal that tied the game 2-2. Then in the third period, Raffl was tripped by Mikko Koivu, resulting in a power play. The Flyers cashed in when Brayden Schenn scored the team's 17th power-play goal of the season for the game-winner with 11 minutes, 17 seconds remaining.

Raffl conceded that, after being a healthy scratch, he entered Saturday with the biggest of chips on his shoulder.

"It gave me an extra push, to be honest," he said. "I was really (angry) that I was scratched, like I  should be, but I have to respect the decision."

He looked in the mirror once the decision was made.

"If you aren't good enough, the other guys are ready to play, too, and you have to respect your teammates," he said. "You have to figure out what you did wrong and fix it or do stuff even better, and that did give me an extra push out there."

Raffl was a plus-2 in 11:38 of ice time.

"I thought it was one of Raff's better games," Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said.

Raffl said he had gotten away from what he does best and returned Saturday to being the player he should be.

"One of the reasons I got scratched was because I was trying to do too much," he said. "I wasn't being the guy I should be, which is a 200-foot guy."