Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Despite being ‘shaken up’ on Hanzal hit, Giroux will play for Philly tonight

There was some major concern on Saturday when Claude Giroux was on the receiving end of a hit from Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal, one that left the Flyers captain laying face up on the ice with his eyes closed.

Despite that scary scene, though, Giroux will play tonight when Philly takes on the Jets.

More, from the Courier-Post:

When asked if he lost consciousness, Giroux just noted “I’m fine.” He will play Monday night against the Winnipeg Jets.

Giroux told reporters in Arizona Saturday night that he went through concussion protocol and was examined by a doctor. Monday morning he said he didn’t have to re-take his baseline concussion test.

“I was a little shaken up, but getting the rest…I feel pretty good,” Giroux said. “Obviously I wanted to finish the game. It was safer to know that I was healthy.”

Philly heads into tonight’s action in the thick of a heated playoff chase. The Flyers are currently holding the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but it’s not a tight grip -- they’re tied on points with Detroit, at 85, and while they do have one game in hand on the Red Wings, the Red Wings have a game tonight as well, against Buffalo.

So in short, every game matters for the Flyers. And every point is vital. Which is why Giroux is playing.

That decision, of course, will undoubtedly cause some consternation. Recently, the Ottawa Citizen published a lengthy piece about forward Clarke MacArthur, who’s missed nearly the entire season with concussion issues -- issues he says are a direct result of trying to ignore symptoms, and returning from his head injury too soon.

“I feel like if I had just went with my gut instinct from Day 1, I would have missed 10 games and I would have played the rest of the year,” MacArthur said, per the Citizen. “It would have been a different situation. It could have been a completely different year.”