The guy pictured above is a pretty happy fellow after today’s events.
There’s a good reason why as Claude Giroux finally got off the pot and tallied his first goal this season, first goal in what seems like forever, as the Flyers defeated the visiting Edmonton Oilers 4-2. Forgive me if I come off sounding like the pessimist version of Randy Quaid in the classic film “Major League”, but this was the Oilers. They’re actually worse than the Flyers this season, and as Philly fans can attest, that indeed has been pretty bad.
The bright side? We’ve all had this discussion before, you know the one, it’s where we’re all telling each other “Oh, the Flyers are playing (insert team missing it’s star and happens to be struggling to win’s name here), this will be easy pickings!” Those contests wound up as a pair of 2-1 victories by the Canes, and that unforgettable fiasco known as the Capitals blowout. Guess the fourth time is the charm, right? The Oilers are so terrible, they actually signed former Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov to be their goaltender. The same man who was basically run out of town for being so eccentric that eccentric people look at him and wonder what in the world is going on in his skull, and oh, he won a playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins despite the fact that he surrendered what felt like 432 goals during it, only to be outdone on the crap-o-meter by Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who coughed up 447. Giving up on goaltender Devin Dubnyk, and not fixing their defensive woes while drafting virtually the same scoring but doesn’t play defense that well guy 1st overall is the soup of the day for the Oilers, so this game’s outcome was pretty logical. I’m still among those who feels Giroux isn’t quite Captain material yet, and this goal wasn’t exactly his best. Again not being creative, again shooting from the top off the faceoff circle, only this time it made it through a lazy Oiler defender and Dubnyk.
The game featured Scott Hartnell netting another goal, and he might be heating up, which makes him perfect trade bait according to the Flyers universe, but when the game leads off with a goal by least favorite Flyers Jay Rosehill, it should have been a sign of things to come. The Oilers actually lived up to their billing, and makes me weary of how to gauge this victory in terms of where the Flyers are headed. It’s a no win situation, really, considering with consistency, no one can figure out if this is the kind of spark the Flyers and Giroux need. If they had beaten a contending team, people may say oh, it’s a fluke. It would be the same conundrum, only in reverse.
Pessimist Randy in me applauds Atlas Giroux for basically getting the world off of his shoulders with his first goal, but it’s going to take a few more games like this before this team has really gotten over the hump for me.
However, Optimist Randy in me does hope for better things to come?
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