CBC-Sports

Giroux not so 'secret' anymore

April 20, 2009 01:25 AM | Posted by   CBC Sports Staff  

A year ago, Claude Giroux led the Gatineau Olympiques to the Quebec League title with an eye-popping 51 points in 19 playoff games. Maybe that’s why Flyers coach John Stevens called his 20-year-old center the club’s “secret
weapon” in the playoffs.

Giroux scored one goal and assisted on one of Simon Gagne’s two goals to breathe life back into the Flyers in a convincing 6-3 win over the Penguins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.

The Flyers also received goals from Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Jared Ross and withstood another superhuman effort by Evgeni Malkin, who now has four goals and seven points in the three-game series.

“You saw the desperation and the emotion and we were able to control it,” Flyers goaltender Martin Biron said after stopping 26 of 29 shots for his first playoff victory since Game 4 of the last year’s conference finals, where the Flyers were eliminated by the Penguins in five games.

“You’ve got to be careful in the playoffs. Momentum is a dangerous thing. This is something we can build on, but they still lead the series.”

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby agreed.

“We expected this to be a tough series,” Crosby said after being held to one assist. “We battled hard and they executed, and made some nice plays, and that’s playoff hockey. Now we have to regroup here and bear down here for the next one.”

With home ice for the first time in the series, Stevens matched his top line of Carter, Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul against Pittsburgh’s top unit of Sidney Crosby, Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin. As a result, the Crosby line was a minus-1.

That also left the undersized Richards to contain Malkin, who scored once on the power play and once at even strength, but finished even on the scoresheet.

The Flyers’ biggest matchup advantage came on the third line, where Giroux’s plus-2 rating measured favorably against Jordan Staal, who along with defenceman Sergei Gonchar was a minus-3.

Just as he did in Game 2, Penguins coach Dan Bylsma reunited Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the third period, but to no avail as the Flyers ripped a page from their Game 2 playbook and forced the top two centremen to the outside.

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