So it seemed like the game was made to order, yet another scuffling team with a depleted roster, and once again the Philadelphia Flyers found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, once again in the 3rd period, a repetitive source of monumental collapses for this club.
The Carolina Hurricanes have been a bad club not just for this season but for a few of them now, no matter how many jerseys they try to put the word Staal on, and both Flyers goalies have had incredible success against them, so it didn’t really matter who the Flyers rolled out in net. This game was supposed to be money, Jordan Staal hasn’t been worth his, and everyone was hoping Giroux was finally going to prove he was worth his own salary. Funny how the game came down to both of these men, and one of them was the catalyst in his team’s success over the other one.
In a see-saw game that featured a lot of shots and just as many missed opportunities, the Flyers made good in the 3rd, taking the 1-0 score on a Scott Hartnell goal, a deflection from a blast at the point by former NHL All Star now Snail On Ice Kimmo Timonen, and things were looking good. There were only four minutes left, and with no one doing much of anything to create solid chances, the Flyers all but had this game in the bag. Fortunes changed however when with less than a minute left and the Canes pulling their goalie for a sixth man, the Flyers, and most notably team Captain Claude Giroux, fell asleep at the wheel, something not new to this team or its fanbase. Eric Staal collected the puck behind the net, and then slickly passed it in front to his brother Jordan, who then wristed a shot that goalie Steve Mason nearly snagged, only to watch it trickle into the net. This all occurred in front of Claude who allowed Staal to get into position and either failed to recognize the play or simply forgot who his man was. The hardest part of this to swallow was the fact that Mason had made a host of great saves, including one that on 9 occasions out of 10 Nathan Gerbe gets a goal on, and was 50 seconds away from his first shutout of the season. This scenario is becoming a recurring heartbreaker for Mason, who easily has been the Flyers best player on ice this year, and after suffering through a few bad seasons in Columbus, really appears to have put his career back on track. The harsh reality of his teammates failing him over and over is unfair and sadly will not change until the men in front of him right this ship.
The Flyers lost this game on the first goal despite the fact that they had to allow a second one to lose. It was easy to see the deflation happening, all the steam let out, and this time the Captain was the man directly responsible for the lapse that led to it. Ever since former coach Peter Laviolette declared Giroux the best player in the league, he has been anything but. This was an apt time to collect his team, lead by example and will them to the required second goal for the victory, and instead fans were treated to a guy who fades into the background when diversity shows up. Forget the fact that Malhotra, a guy just glad to be back on NHL ice, scored on a smooth breakaway shot in OT. Forget that Dwyer should have been called on a high sticking penalty on Timonen with seconds left in the third. This club lives and dies with their leader, and he just isn’t leading at all.
Giroux has the potential to turn his season around, but I doubt his potential or ability to lead the Flyers. He isn’t vocal enough, he doesn’t take the reins when things aren’t going the club’s way. We’re now treated to Andy Reid-like post game interviews, where Giroux fumbles through words and doesn’t seem to have an answer, and with generic responses comes no accountability. That is what’s missing now, no one is being held accountable, instead a stable of players desperately seeking direction given vanilla solutions. A good first step would be realizing that Giroux isn’t playing the way he became successful in the first place. This is a player with great stick handling and is a known passer, but also a very creative scorer, and that creativity just isn’t there anymore. This was a kid who would dangle the puck through two or three defenders on his way to a ridiculous backhand top shelfer, and now? Now we watch a guy who take one of the faceoff circles during a power play and waits for the inaccurate one timer after another. He has lost the ability or desire to drive to the front of the net and create chances for other players. I pray it’s the latter because it can be found a bit easier than the former. Until Giroux begins to bring back his arsenal of tricks, plays to his style and not someone else’s, and becomes vocally consistent with his teammates as the leader, this club is more than likely doomed to a long season.
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