Flyers’ Claude Giroux Shows Even A ‘Puck Wizard’ Can Sacrifice His Body
WELLS FARGO CENTER – When Claude Giroux fell to the ice while blocking a shot by Carolina’s Tim Gleason, it’s hard to blame any Flyers fan who gasped and immediately panicked.
We’ve seen this picture before – more players in orange and black have seemingly been injured by opponents’ shots in the past year or so than from hits or other freak accidents. After leaving the game briefly and causing all sorts of drama among a worried fan base, Giroux came back shortly after and showed no ill-effects.
“I got caught out of position and I just tried get back in the lane and it kinda hit me where I had no padding,” Giroux said. “It’s all good, though. It’s part of hockey.”
That was the theme throughout the Flyers’ locker room after their 2-1 win over the Hurricanes – that Giroux was just doing his job by blocking a shot. And his teammates were extremely proud of him for it.
“You know what? That’s the beauty of this team – we’ve got guys that no matter if you’re Claude Giroux, puck wizard or whatever, he’s gonna still stay in the defensive zone and block shots,” defenseman Braydon Coburn said. “And that’s just how the guys in this room are made up.”
Coach Peter Laviolette has said on many occasions that winning teams block shots. Call him “Orange Jesus,” call him “puck wizard,” or anything else – Giroux is a responsible, hard-nosed defensive player who also leads the Flyers with 51 points through 54 games.
Goaltender Brian Boucher is especially grateful to Flyers players who lay out and prevent more pucks from coming at him. And he knows the danger that it can present – Ian Laperriere (concussion), Jeff Carter (broken foot), Simon Gagne (broken foot) and Chris Pronger (broken foot) have all missed games from injuries blocking shots.
“We want guys to block shots here; that’s what we talk about. Unfortunately a byproduct of that is sometimes guys do get hurt,” Boucher said. “I think for the most part guys are protected pretty well, so it’s most likely just gonna be a bruise. But in the odd case like in Prongs’ situation and Carts last year and Simon Gagne, there’s gonna be some broken feet. You just hope that doesn’t happen.”
Giroux didn’t appear to even have a bruise to show for this blocked shot, which came 1:25 into the second period. But it was obvious he was in pain while skating to the bench and going down the tunnel toward the locker room.
Despite the pain, Giroux went on to have a heck of a game, including the primary assist on the eventual game-winner as he delivered a beautiful pass to Danny Briere right on the doorstep.
“He was playing well before [the blocked shot]. I thought he was really strong in the first period and his line,” Laviolette said. “I’m not even sure the extent of what went on, other than we missed him for a few shifts. But it was good to see him back on the bench.”
And good for the Flyers to see him winning games with his wizardry and his sacrifice.
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