Giroux rescues season - again
Giroux rescues season - again
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Once again, Claude Giroux rescued the Flyers' season.
On the last day of the regular season, you'll recall, it was Giroux who scored the deciding goal in the shoot-out against the New York Rangers. That goal _ and a save by Brian Boucher _ enabled the Flyers to qualify for the playoffs.
Giroux was a difference-maker again on Wednesday night as he scored in OT to lift the Flyers to a desperately needed 4-3 win over the Chiago Blackhawks. The win cut the Hawks' lead to two games to one in the Stanley Cup Finals.
In the fist two games of the Finals, Giroux was tentative; he was scoreless and registered a minus-3 rating.
That prompted coach Peter Laviolette to sit down with his blossoming young star early Wednesday in an attempt to relax the 22-year-old center.
“I think he loosened up a bit,” Laviolette said.
And tightened the Stanley Cup Finals.
Besides the game-winner, Giroux added two assists before a record Pennsylvania hockey crowd at the reverberating Wachovia Center.
The Flyers still trail in the series, but they may have been in a nearly impossible 3-0 hole if not for Giroux.
Laviolette said he tried to get Giroux “to lighten up a little….You have to remember, it’s the Stanley Cup Finals” and young players are going to be nervous.
“At this point of the year, you know what you have to do in order to be successful. There’s a lot of work. There’s a lot of intensity,” the coach said. “There’s a lot of competiveness in the battles.”
Laviolette paused.
“In the same sense, if you tighten it up too much, you seize up a little bit,” he added. “We talked about just having fun tonight, coming out and letting everything roll. Go after them and I think he took that advice because he was smiling all day.”
And night.
“He came to the rink and went out and played a great game,” Laviolette said. “Sometimes, you need to loosen up a little bit. He’s a talented kid.”
The win put the Flyers back in the series.
“It’s huge. I don’t think the guys wanted to come back again from 3-0” like they did against Boston in the conference semifinals, said Grioux, who said one of his close friends texted him earlier in the day and predicted he would score in overtime. “If we wanted a chance to win this series, we needed a win tonight….and the guys showed up.”
Particularly Giroux.
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Breakaways. The Flyers had 40 hits _ nine more than Chicago. Scott Hartnell (6 hits), Darrroll Powe (6), Braydon Coburn (5) and Simon Gagne (5) led the hit parade…..Jeff Carter led the Flyers with six shots….Giroux and Pronger (five blocked shots) were each plus-2. Pronger on the Hawks: “There was a lot of talk coming from their side of the ice. We were just busy playing the game.”….All three games have been decided by one goal…..”We like our position,” said Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith, who had a goal and played a team-high 30:20….Pronger (32:07) and Braydon Coburn (31:26) led the Flyers in time on the ice.
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For continual Flyers updates, follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BroadStBull.
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I hope gagne never has to read he is too soft ever again. he has proven this playoffs he is one of the best two way wingers of his time.— ChampAnderson- I think BuffyLynn needs some Vagistat.— Voytas
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- Giroux is NOT a third line guy! Can you imagine what he would do if he had guys that could finish? Nothing against Asham or Carcillo but really. The "dream" line is a joke and on the ice for two more GA last night while Giroux is setting up Asham and Carcillo. Give the kid some help!— 67Flyer
- Girous is arguably the best player on this team. He is 22. Wait until this guy has few sesaons under his belt. All the talk of the excellence of 22 year old Toews, yet I would not swap their captain for our Claude.— rockinrob
- Flyers finally showed some faceoff prowess last night. They've been getting schooled and last night we won alot of big draws. I also thought the Flyers looked real slow in the first period. I wasn't sure if they were laying back as part of Lavi's game plan but it just looked like they weren't charging to pucks like they normally do and were sorta hangin' back. They settled in to a tight, back and forth game that coulda gone either way. Just like the first 2 games. Thankfully, this one went our way.— vafan
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- The flyers played like they were desperate. The flyers played a good game and a great 3rd period and OT. I tip my cap to the Flyers effort last night. Go Hawks— Happy Hawks Fan
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- I think it's time to put JVR back in the line-up. He's had a few days to rest up and get his legs back, which seems to have been his problem all season. After every break he's come back strong. The series has been physical so far, time to put a rested, speedy winger out there to take advantage of some tired Chicago D.— richards4captain18
- A hawks fan with class!— wideawake
- I agree with putting JVR back in to replace Carcillo. Coach Lav took Carcillo out after an ill advised give away by him that almost resulted in a goal against. Richards did not look right last night. Not only did he fumble every puck that came his way,he missed an open net off a perfect pass from Leino and he botched a face off that ended up in our net. He also ended up giving face off duty to Carter after that. Even in his interview after the game, Richards seemed to be to be trembling and not quite right.. We are going to need better play from Richards, Carter and Gagne to go all the way.. who would have thought that of anyone on the team being double shifted it would be Ville Leino?— bradco
- Why don't we all just hold our negative comments aimed at both teams and enjoy what we all know is a very good series of hockey between two talented teams that earned their way to this matchup.— TOM A HAWK
- Hey Tom, nice comment, I agree!!!— DJ
- yo, Larry - Happy Hawks Fan has been nothing but gracious since he started posting. Take the tired bully act elsewhere if you can't share civilized discourse with the opposition. BTW - didn't you just start posting like a month ago?— vafan
- Jeff Carter was terrible last night! He needs to wake up as he is bringing Richie and Gags down with him. Why does he have to shoot from everywhere? At one point last night, he had Gagne wide open in the slot and he is at the side if the net and roofs it into the netting. The guy is a puck hog!!!!— Fabulous
- I don't think Carcillo or JVR is gonna impact the game that much so I say go with Car Bomb. Lavi said it was his hardest decision ever when he sat Dan earlier in the playoffs so he'll probably stick with Carcillo. My point? Did you see Car Bomb face plant onto his own stick behind the Hawks net? That was so frickin' funny.— vafan
- That Ville Leino trade is looking pretty good right now. The kid has been playing great.— mark77m
- I wish Bill McCreary would call an even game. This clown of a referee is terrible. But then, if he called an even game, the Hawks would be up 3-0, the series wouldn't even be close to "tight" (except game 2), and the ratings would plummet. Go figure.— #1HockeyFan
- Nice Tom— PEFF
- Well, I guess JVR not even dressing for a game vs Kane scoring the breakaway isn't really news yet.
- I too would like to see JVR back in for Game 4. I like Carcillo but he's going to get called even if he's just in the neighborhood. Let's hope either Richards, Carter, and or Gagne have a big game Friday and tie this thing up at 2.— BobbyD
- #1 stop crying ya sissy....— Sillies
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Giroux is having a great playoffs, but he needs to play with better team mates. Ville Leino has been a monster. I hope Giroux and Leino are together tonite. Our "third" liners are key.
