It was a rough week for the Flyers as they dropped three of their four games against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals. Only one orange-bearded man caught the attention of the Flyers faithful this week. That man was the captain, Claude Giroux.
Claude Giroux only had three points this week, but those three points saved the Flyers from dropping all four of their matchups.
After a rough 5-2 loss on Tuesday, Philadelphia looked for some revenge on Thursday. Well, the Penguins treated the Flyers like a dead fish in the first period. They kicked them around a little bit and quickly went up 3-0 just four minutes into the game.
Alain Vigneault quickly called a timeout, reminding the team that there was still plenty of time left to come back. Somewhere during that time, Giroux got the invincibility power-up and decided it was time to play.
Sean Couturier brought the Flyers within two before the first period ended, but it was still a long road back. In the second period, the invincible Giroux picked up some garbage after Oskar Lindblom couldn’t finesse Tristan Jarry. Claude Giroux was in the perfect position on the ice to pick up that rebound goal. Just like that, it was a 3-2 game.
The Flyers entered the third period down just one goal. Brian Elliot kept them in the game with some nice saves, but Moose needed some help on the offensive side of the ice. With just about six minutes remaining, Travis Konecny made an amazing pass that found the loaded stick of captain Claude. Giroux aimed and fired the puck off of Scott Laughton and into the back of the net. Tie game!
The Flyers still needed one more goal to complete an epic comeback. Philly didn’t want the game to go into overtime, because that would give the Penguins a much-needed point on the standings. So of course, with two minutes left in the game, Giroux scored again. Where’s the party now Penguins? The Flyers would go on to win their only game of the week by a final score of 4-3.
The Captain came up clutch, racking up 2g-1a in a thriller in Pittsburgh.#AnytimeAnywhere | @28CGiroux pic.twitter.com/DYFsYhDCEL
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) March 5, 2021
The rest of the week wasn’t as great. As of now, the Flyers are in 5th place in the division with a couple of games in hand. It’s starting to look like a five-team race. Down the stretch, Philadelphia has to figure out their power play. Since February 1, the power play is just 6 for 47.
Some players to watch next week will be Travis Konecny and Kevin Hayes. Konecny tallied four points last week and looks to be breaking out of his slump. Hayes just had one goal last week, but sometimes you just get a gut feeling that a player is going to have a couple of big games.
I feel like Hayes is due. Let’s hope the Flyers can rack up some points this week and find themselves back in a playoff spot!