Today in Flyers History: Claude Giroux shines in 2010 playoffs

A young player at the time, Claude Giroux began his rise during the Flyers 2010 Cup run.

We all know the fearless leader that Claude Giroux has become for the Flyers. In just his second season back in 2010, he had already begun cementing himself as a vital part of the organization.

The 2010 playoffs didn’t end the way the Flyers wanted. But it gave us a chance to see the kind of player that Giroux was going to become. He had already shown offensive talent during the regular season.

At 22 years of age, Giroux posted 16 goals and 47 points during the regular season. That foreshadowed the explosion he was going to have during the playoffs.

His biggest performance of the playoffs came in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Flyers were in a two games to none hole against the Blackhawks. After losing both games by close scores, they needed hope in the third game. Going into a 3-0 hole would have completely deflated them.

That is when Giroux stepped up like we’ve seen from him plenty of times before. The Flyers had an 2-1 lead in the second period when Giroux assisted on a Scott Hartnell power play goal. After the Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the third, the Flyers answered back almost immediately.

This time, Giroux assisted on a Ville Leino goal to even up the game. Leino had also been hot at the time, grabbing his sixth goal of the playoffs. That brought the Flyers and Hawks to overtime. And that is where Giroux made it all happen.

After winning the faceoff in the neutral zone, Giroux took the pass from Matt Carle and begun to move up ice. To create space, he sent the puck over to Daniel Briere who entered the zone from the left side.

This allowed Carle to find himself almost all alone at the top of the zone. He skated in and fired the shot on net. Giroux had made his way to the front of the net and deflected the shot in on Antti Niemi. It trickled past him, giving the Flyers a much needed victory.

Almost a point-per-game player during the playoffs, Giroux finished with 10 goals and 21 points in 23 playoffs games.

And while the Flyers would come up just short in end, this is where the legend of Claude Giroux began.