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Sam Donnellon: Guys like Giroux can save the day for the Flyers

NEWARK, N.J. - It ended with Jeff Carter breaking his stick on a promising shot in the high slot, with Ilya Kovalchuk firing a puck, finally, into an empty net, an empty gesture from a player who, like Carter, has given his team so little so far.

Flyers' Claude Giroux celebrates his first-period power play goal with teammate Matt Carle. (Yong Kim / Staff Photographer)
Flyers' Claude Giroux celebrates his first-period power play goal with teammate Matt Carle. (Yong Kim / Staff Photographer)Read more

NEWARK, N.J. - It ended with Jeff Carter breaking his stick on a promising shot in the high slot, with Ilya Kovalchuk firing a puck, finally, into an empty net, an empty gesture from a player who, like Carter, has given his team so little so far.

So what have we learned as the Devils and Flyers head back to Philadelphia tied in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal at a game apiece following New Jersey's 5-3 victory last night? That they're evenly matched? We knew that already. That the Flyers are a little thin at the blue line? We should have known that, too, especially after Chris Pronger's 30 minutes in Game 1.

Like any tight series, this one will be decided by players not listed in the preview, players who were ordinary in the regular season and, for some reason, become extraordinary in the postseason. It happens for the winners every spring, and it's talked about all summer. And if you're looking for silver linings in last night's loss, look no further than the box score.

Even a casual fan of the U.S. Olympic hockey team is well aware of Zach Parise by now. The New Jersey Devils forward tied that gold-medal game in the final seconds by firing in a puck as he fell to the ice. So his extraordinary effort on the winning goal last night, spinning toward the goal with Carter draped all over him, and getting the puck to Dainius Zubrus, should not surprise.

Parise scored the first goal in the first period on a breakaway, roofing a backhander past Brian Boucher, another nifty play. Patrik Elias assisted that one, and added another and even Kovalchuk got a couple of points.

None are surprise stars. The surprise stars were on the other side of the ice. Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist on plays that dropped your jaw, and made about twice as many more like plays that just missed ending up on the sheet as well. Arron Asham and James van Riemsdyk were dangerous players on the ice with him, players who clearly did not figure largely in the home team's preparation.

"You know what?" Pronger said. "We're going to have to rely on those guys. They're young, but they're gaining some valuable experience. And if [Giroux] can continue to play like he did tonight, we're going to be OK."

Giroux scored 16 goals and had 47 points while playing every game this season. OK numbers for sure, better than that for your average 22-year-old second-year NHL player. But late last season, and in the quick foray into the playoffs, Giroux played as if he would be more than that, as if he could fill some of the scoring void created by the departures of Mike Knuble and Joffrey Lupul.

"He was sporadic," Pronger said. "That line at times this year played very well and was dominant. At times they weren't.

"They were a lot like our season. Inconsistent."

They weren't last night. At least Giroux wasn't. And he was pretty good in Wednesday's victory, once lacing a puck between the legs of a Devils defenseman and his own legs to get a shot off.

Giroux set up the Flyers' first goal by employing all of what can make him special. Small and light, he is incredibly successful in puck battles with much bigger men. On this occasion, Giroux spent a good 15 seconds battling for the puck along the boards behind the net, eventually popping out behind the left post. Your eyes have been trained to expect a pass to the point, but Giroux, instead, spun just a foot or two and laced a pass across the slot, through three sticks, and onto the tape of Asham, who directed it in.

Surprise play by a surprise player.

"I don't think we played bad tonight," he said. If, by "we," he meant his line, no argument there.

"A lot of guys have his stickwork ability," Danny Briere said the other day. "On top of it, he has the vision of knowing where to go, which hole to jump in. There's not a lot of people who have that knack. You can't teach that. You're born with it and it develops as you get older."

That's some of it. But there's this other part, a part that's even harder to figure. Giroux is listed at 5-11, which makes me a 6-footer. He's listed at 179 pounds, which puts me at about 220. He is neither of these numbers, which makes his ability to take and give punishment remarkable.

With the score tied at 1 late in that first period, Giroux redirected Matt Carle's pass-shot with his back to Martin Brodeur. It gave the Flyers their only lead of the night, and it put a sudden target on his back. Devils defenseman Colin White slammed him dangerously into the boards with a full-speed, arms-extended push. There was no call. Later, New Jersey's Andy Greene whacked him across the head with his stick. That one drew a penalty.

The Flyers hit the post twice on the ensuing power play. It's what happens when you don't play that badly but lose.

"We played better than we did in Game 1," Pronger said. "So did they."

The silver lining, maybe, is that the Flyers' better involved more people than the Devils' better. At the very least, it involved Giroux. The postseason is all about guys like him, who go from ordinary to extraordinary in time to save a game or two.

Sometimes even, to save a season. *

Send e-mail to donnels@phillynews.com.

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