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Claude Giroux on Flyers' scoring problems: 'I have to be better'

Captain Claude Giroux pointed a finger at himself Friday for the Flyers' recent offensive struggles. The Flyers, who host San Jose on Saturday afternoon, have scored a total of 13 goals in their last 10 games and have fallen out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

Captain Claude Giroux pointed a finger at himself Friday for the Flyers' recent offensive struggles.

The Flyers, who host San Jose on Saturday afternoon, have scored a total of 13 goals in their last 10 games and have fallen out of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot.

"The bottom line is, the team's got to be better. I've got to be better," Giroux said after practice in Voorhees. "Personally, I have to be better. I've got to play up to my standards and, right now, it's not the case. It's frustrating. You want to give everything you can to help the team, and that's not the case right now."

Giroux has just two goals in his last 20 games. He is minus-19 in his last 24 games since Dec. 14.

"You need to dig in. You need to change your mind-set. Go out there and play hard," he said. "I know I have to be better to help the team. I take responsibility. The last 10 games, offensively, we haven't been clicking. We've had chances, but it's not going in, so we need to bear down. I have to be better to help the team score some goals."

The 29-year-old center said his offseason hip and abdominal surgeries have not slowed him down and have nothing to do with poor play over the last two months.

"That's just excuses. I had a lot of time to recover," said Giroux, who said he was 100 percent healthy.

During the Flyers' 10-game winning streak earlier this season, Giroux had 12 points, including five goals, and was plus-10. Since then, he has struggled mightily.

Coach Dave Hakstol said Giroux and the team's leaders have stuck together.

". . . You have to accept some of that responsibility and you have to be willing to shoulder some of that load," Hakstol said. "In terms of our captain doing that, that's good leadership on his part."

Breakaways. Michal Neuvirth has recovered from an illness and is expected to make his fourth start in the last five games. . . . Michael Del Zotto is still listed as day to day and hopes he is in the lineup Wednesday in Calgary. . . . Matt Read left practice after suffering an injury blocking a shot, but is expected to play Saturday. . . . In the locker room after practice, the Flyers hosted former Magee Rehabilitation Hospital patients Pat McCloskey, who became a quadriplegic when he crashed into the boards during a summer-league hockey game in 2006; Jim D'Ambrosia, a South Philadelphia native who fell three stories after an electrical accident at work and lost his right leg below his knee; and Keith Newerla, who has been in a wheelchair his entire life because of cerebral palsy.

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