Flyers win series
And a 24-year-old shall lead them.
Flyers win series
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
And a 24-year-old shall lead them.
Claude Giroux. Yes.
On the first shift of what turned out to be the clinching game of the Flyers-Penguins series, this is what the Flyers’ best player did. He leveled Penguins captain Sidney Crosby in the first 5 seconds of the game. He scored a goal at 32 seconds. And as a kind-of-nervous Wells Fargo Center erupted in celebration, turned his own celebration into an exhortation.
“Let’s go,” he yelled, to the players near him and the thousands surrounding him in a big, orange embrace. “Let’s go.”
And so, they did.
Capping off one of the most productive playoff series by a Flyers player with that goal and another assist -- giving him six goals and eight assists for the series -- Giroux led the Flyers to a 5-1 win over the Penguins. After taking the first three games of the series, and then sweating through the next two, it was Giroux who made the final afternoon his. And while we still do not know yet what team the Flyers will be playing in the second round, this remains an emphatic statement by a young, rebuilt team -- and by its unquestioned leader.
It would be unfair to label this as Giroux’s emergence in the post-season. The truth is, that happened 2 years ago when Giroux scored 10 goals and had 11 assists in 23 games as the Flyers marched to Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final before losing to Chicago. But this has been somehow different, better.
The start of that game will not soon be forgotten, not can it be understated. On some level, the Flyers themselves had to be as nervous as the crowd seemed to be. This is a young team, after all, and to see a 3-0 lead in the series shrink to 3-2 had to be at least a little bit unnerving. A bad start would have just fed into whatever bad thoughts were already in place.
But Giroux made sure that did not happen.
With that, on to wherever.
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Do you mean, Claude 'Bobby Clarke' Giroux?— flphilly- solid game all around especially giroux. glad to see the goals against drop. whos next? go flyers!!!!— phillysportsnut
- Congratulations to all of us. I'd like to thank Giroux's hands and skates for making him so great! (lol)
So long to Sidney "W**** B****" Crosby. Good bye W.B. Crosby. I hope you brought a towel to wipe your v***** for the bus ride home.
Also the unsung Fly guys this series, Jagr, Coutz, Talbot, and even Bryz in games 1, 5, and 6 (I know, but c'mon if we never give him some love no one ever will).
Celebrate today, on to round 2 tomorrow. I don't care who we play from the Rump Rangers on down the line. We can take em if we keep playing like this and Bryz stays steady.— WestonF01 - What a series. Thank you Flyguys.— CortesDiddy
Absolutely great effort by ALL the team!! Hats off the entire series to rookie Sean Couturier who had the monumental task of playing Malkin. To me, Malkin was the most threatening player of the Pens. He has more talent and heart than the crybaby, and more dangerous. Anybody know where I can purchase a picture (shown above) of G absolutely bulldozing Cindy?— dogman5- Buh bye Cindy go back to Shyztburg!!!— seeker58
- You don't need a C sewn onto your sweater to be a leader.— Sidewinder7
- Great, great win for this new, young group of Flyers. Giroux was outstanding today, good legit check of Crosby, and, more importantly, a tone setting goal. Pronger, in his criticism of Giroux, likely sensed that Claude could be great(and without Richards, Giroux is definitely emerging). Now, let's get ready for the next round; the Pens are dead. Let's go Flyers!— 76erfn
- Just watching Giroux play is worth the price of admission. What a joy that we will be moving up to the next round and get to see what the best player in the game will bring us next. I am happy to give Sidney one more reason to hate us. Hey Sid, Waaaaaaah.— OldSouthPhilly
- Flyers are better than the Penguins.— road515
- Can the Flyers win their first cup since 1975?....Nope, you pathetic group of overgrown babies will choke again and cry that your goalie or Laviolette is blowing it for you. Enjoy the good feeling while it lasts, I will be back here to taunt you jerks when you lose second round :) (HTML deleted)— Sidney_Crosby
- Great job today Pittsburgh! ;) — CortesDiddy
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Cindy Crosby....one.....ping ............only......
Tic...Toc...Tic...Toc...Tic...Toc...Tic...Toc...Tic...— mean mean pride,mean mean pride. - 3 years in succession the Flyers have gone further then the Pens, The Penguins are now the 3rd best team in the division.
The golden boys are no longer Crosby/Malkin but Courtier and Shenn. The Pens are on the downslide— RockingatMidnite - Great game, just what I wanted to see.— Ruffles
