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Philadelphia Flyers: Giroux Leads Flyers Through Adversity

By Kevin Gullage |

Good players and good teams can battle through adversity. This is the difference between the good and great teams. Battling through adversity is not an easy task. You will get down, you will become pessimistic, and you will find it very hard to continue on.

Claude Giroux and the Flyers showed us last night that they can battle through adversity. They came away with a huge win in Boston last night, a win that didn’t seem so realistic heading into the third period.

The Flyers were trailing by two goals heading into the third period in Boston last night, due to two very weak goals given up by Flyers goaltender Steve Mason.

Neuvirth was hurt last night on a very weird play last night and Steve Mason came in to relieve him at the start of the 2nd period.

After the atrocious 2nd period in which the Flyers had a five-minute power play which registered no shots on goal, which was given to them by no other than ex-Flyer Zac Rinaldo, they went into the locker room just waiting for their chance to grab the momentum back.

This momentum swing came in the form of Steve Mason during the third period. Mason made a miraculous diving save to keep the Bruins lead at two goals. I mean look at this thing!

The goal was reviewed and it was determined that the puck didn’t cross the line, therefore, resulting in no goal.

Just a few minutes after that amazing save, Claude Giroux, the Philadelphia Flyers captain, cut the Bruins lead to one, due to a misplay by Tukka Rask behind the net, and a wonderful feed over by Voracek.

This was the spark that ignited the fire.

The Flyers were all of a sudden skating hard, winning races, winning board battles, and playing with a physical edge. It was everything that a Flyers fan could have wanted. It gave them the momentum back and allowed them to feel confident in their play again.

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Then another turn of events happened. This was contributed by Wayne Simmonds. Simmonds absolutely blew a wrister past Tukka, over his shoulder on the glove side. The same wrist shot that beat Rask in the first period by Sam Gagner. It was an absolute beauty that tied the game up.

You couldn’t help but feel that the Flyers were going to get the win after that. I contemplated going to bed right before Giroux cut the lead to one in the third. Needless to say, I’m quite glad I stayed awake.

As the Flyers and Bruins headed to overtime during Wednesday night rivalry, you could see the confidence in their play and you just hoped that their play transferred over to overtime.

Michael Del Zotto did a fantastic job gaining the offensive zone and playing keep away from a Bruins defender. This resulted in a tripping call that would give the Flyers a 4 on 3 power play in overtime.

Claude Giroux and Voracek played catch before Mark Streit fed Giroux the puck. Giroux hit his one timer in stride and capped off the Flyers victory in overtime.

Not only did Giroux solidify his team’s victory, he solidified the statement that the Flyers can indeed battle through adversity and that he can lead them through it. Giroux finished his night with two goals to help the Flyers come back and win against a very strong opponent in the Boston Bruins. Giroux also tied Steven Stamkos with the most overtime goals since 2011-2012 with 6. No other players have scored more in that span.

I mean just look at this one timer!

I think I will just leave it at that.

Next: Corsi Line Report Vs Bruins

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