If we didn’t know it before, then we sure as heck know it now: the
Philadelphia Flyers are one of the most the resilient teams we’ve ever
seen in the postseason. At the heart of this team is a group of
determined forwards, who may not be the biggest stars in the NHL and
certainly don’t get as much attention as Jeff Carter, Dan Carcillo or
Mike Richards, but who are more important to the Flyers’ success than
any other.
Claude Giroux, Danny Briere and Ville Leino have lifted this team up
and placed them squarely on their own backs. In every deep postseason
run you need role players to step up and play the best hockey of their
lives, but I don’t think anyone anticipated the level these three have
reached.
They don’t play together, at least not all of the time, but these
three have been the difference in the postseason for the Flyers. Giroux,
who scored just 16 goals in 82 regular season games, now has 8 goals
and 17 points in the playoffs. He’s scored big goal after big goal, and
none has ever been bigger than his tipped goal that came 5:59 into the
first overtime.
With that tip, coming off a great play by Matt Carle at the point and
perfect anticipation by Giroux, the Flyers avoided a 3-0 hole in the
series and made things very interesting heading into Game 4.
“It’s huge. I don’t think guys want to do a comeback again from
3-0.” Giroux said. “So it was tough losing the first two games. If we
want to give us a chance to win the Series, we need to win this game
tonight. The message was pretty clear before the game, and guys showed
up.”
Giroux played some inspiring hockey against the Bruins and the
Canadiens, but had disappeared a bit in the first two games of the
series. There was no doubt that if the Flyers would pull off a comeback,
they’d need better play from the players a bit farther down the depth
chart. Giroux says that’s something he and his teammates were focused on
after the two games in Chicago.
“Anytime you’re not producing or playing well, you are just going to
keep it simple and go back just working hard. I think we did that, and
we tried to win as many battles as we could.”
Coach Laviolette says that Giroux was perhaps pressing too much,
playing too tight as he played in his first Stanley Cup finals. With the
series now back at home, the Flyers focused on just playing their game
in front of their home crowd, something that seemed to help Giroux in
the end.
“We talked about just having some fun tonight, come out and letting
everything roll,” Laviolette said after the game. “Go after him, and I
think he took that advice, because he was smiling all day. He came to
the rink and went out and played a great game. Sometimes you need to
loosen up a little bit. He’s a talented kid.”
Giroux, Briere and Leino all made tremendous plays tonight, but for
them it was just the same thing they’ve done all postseason long. None
of the players seemed overly excited about the win or their plays,
instead wanting to immediately focus on Game 4 and evening up the
series.
Leino in particular has come to life for the Flyers, and is perhaps
the biggest surprise of the playoffs. After the game he was soft spoken
and humble, saying that the Flyers “know exactly what we have to do” and
that for them this is just business as usual.
All postseason long the Flyers have found ways to overcome adversity
of any and every sort, but it’s something the Flyers have become
accustomed to. Laviolette believes that his team is at it’s best when
their backs are against the the wall.
“It’s been for a long time. Like I said this morning, 2-0 for us is
comfortable. We’re okay with that. We know how to battle through it.
We knew how important the game was tonight. Once we wake up
tomorrow morning, we know we have to hold serve on home ice. I think
the guys will be fine with that.”
This morning, the Flyers were one hell of a confident bunch and it
seemed as if they reveled in the fact they were facing a must-win
situation. They were calm and business like, yet loose and never acted
like a team that was down two games in the Stanley Cup finals. Yet no
matter what the circumstances, no matter how matter of fact the Flyers
are about this win, there’s no doubting how big that goal was for Claude
Giroux. This is one he’s going to remember for a long time, yet he’s
still focused on the task at hand.
“It’s obviously a big goal. It’s probably my biggest goal in my
career,” he said with a grin.
“I’m happy I was able to do that. As quick as we can put this
game behind us and be ready for game 4, it’s going to be huge. There’s a
lot of emotion tonight. But I think it’s important that we just focus
and be ready for game 4.”
