Briere joins Giroux's line
Daily News Flyers blog
Briere joins Giroux's line
In his latest effort to generate offense from his sputtering team, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette on Thursday stuck Danny Briere on the left wing of his buddy Claude Giroux’s line. Wayne Simmonds remains on the right wing.
Laviolette used the combination late in the 2-1 loss at the Rangers on Monday. It produced no goals, but it looked good enough to give it another chance in Washington tomorrow night.
“We had some success with Matt Read on there,” Laviolette said. “We weren’t generating as much offensively as we would have liked, in New York, so we put Danny there. There’s probably going to be more switches, even if we reel off 10 in a row.”
Actually, if they reel off 10 in a row and stay healthy, nothing this important will change.
At this point, reeling off two in a row would be a godsend.
The Flyers are 2-5 in the lockout-shortened, 48-game season. They lost their first three, beat the Rangers and blew out the Panthers, then lost their last two.
They rank 25th, scoring 2.00 goals per game
Most notably, Giroux has not scored a goal and has just two points in the team’s last five games.
“Obviously, I’m not happy with my game. It’s only seven games,” Giroux said. “I’m staying positive.”
That was the third time in 2 minutes Giroux referenced the fact that the Flyers had played only seven games.
In a regular year, that’s less than 9 percent of the season.
This year, it’s almost 15 percent.
That is why Laviolette made the move to put two smallish offensive weapons on the same line instead of spreading their talent through the lineup.
Otherwise, they would be playing together all the time.
They have a similar temperament and devilishly good hands.
Giroux lived with Briere and Briere’s family for the 2010-11 season. The pair often trains together.
For a month during the lockout this fall, they played on the same line for Eisbaren Berlin before a neck injury sent Giroux back to the States.
Giroux, a wizard with the puck, loved playing with Briere in Germany, and he is eager to skate with him for the Flyers.
“I know where he is one the ice,” Giroux said. “I know what kind of player he is. We can feed off each other.”
That’s the plan.
“I think it’s a nice complement,” Laviolette said. “One sees the ice really well. One can put the puck in the back of the net really well. A lot of players might enjoy playing with Claude. Because he does see the ice and can make a lot of plays. So when you get someone who’s a natural goal-scorer like Danny, it could be a good fit.
“We’ll try it and see where it goes.”
Slap shot
Laviolette, on the early play of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, whose .924 save percentage and 2.18 goals-against average have earned him just two wins: “It’s like a pitcher who goes out on the mound and doesn’t get the run support he needs to win the game.”
Bring back McGinn. But regardless, this team is horrible. They'll be lucky if they make the playoffs.— masterncommander- Strengthen the top line and stifle the second. Doing this before another road game where the home team gets last change? We'll see.— elbrewador
- Matt Read is not a first liner. The departure of Jags and JVR plus the injury to Hartsie have thinned out the Flyers offense and this is now putting a lot of pressure on guys like Read, Couts, and B. Schenn. They are not as good as that (yet). Promoting Danny B. might help.— flyerdommo
- The Flyers are two points behind the Penguins and Rangers and only four points behind first place. No reason to count them out yet. Bryz has looked good and consistent for the most part and if the Flyers can score some goals this team could be in first place. I like Briere and Giroux together because they were killer in Deutschland (yeah, I know, it's a weaker league). Here's hoping to a strong effort against a slumping Capitals team tomorrow. Let's go Flyers!— The Oneness
- They better hope Danny B can boost Giroux since Homer let Jagr go while waiting on Nashville to match the Weber offer. I agree with first poster, McGinn shows me more than Rinaldo ever has, but the coach is in love with Zac. Not sure what he sees in him......— BobbyD
- It looks like Jagr used his time in Europe to fine tune his puck handling. I'll bet he's glad Homer took a risk on him, look at him now. He is the leading scorer for the Stars, averaging a point per game.— Danno
- BobbyD---- You're right. Plus, Rinaldo can't even breathe on somebody without receiving a penalty. Makes him pretty much useless.— WHITEY2009
- Miss Jagr...big time!— dogman5
Ride with the tide and go with the flow. It ain't gonna happen this year, but at least it looks like we have a goaltender...— ColKurtz- I dont know if Briere is a compliment to Giroux both kind of play the same game . Really doesnt matter because if we get no scoring from the other 3 lines we are doomed anyway. They have to address the penalty kill and pp immediately and put in a system that works ..not optimistic that things are going to turn around— flyers1000
- Come on,lets give em' a hand. Can it get any worse?— quigly46
- giroux's magical season was a product of jagr's endless creativity. giroux is a good player, no doubt, but he is not in a crosby, datsyuk or malkin's league. he had a nice playoff last year (at least the first round) but that does not make him "the best player in the game". most of north america is still laughing and shaking their heads at that absurd assessment of his talent.— the phantom
- Good analogy Pete....ask Cliff Lee.— girouxforpresident
- B schenn gets paid alot to be absent from the score sheet night after night.— CanadianPhilly
- Remember, historically Danny Boy doesn't show up until the playoffs....— Mike Boryla
