So what if Claude Giroux backed in on Craig Anderson in the shootout and the Senators sneaked out the back door of the Wells Fargo Center with two points? Girouxs coach has his stars back regardless.
"It didnt work this time, might work the next time, said Peter Laviolette after Matt Reads goal to start the shootout was not enough to overcome ones by Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek. It wont change my opinion of Claude in the shootout.
He is excellent, talented, and a guy that I count on to score goals in that situation.
With the shootout tied 1-1, Giroux turned all the way around, showed Anderson No. 28, and then tried to beat the goalie between the legs with a backhander. The Flyers went on to lose the game in the shootout, 4-3 (see story).
Anderson, hardly shocked, turned the tables on Giroux with a pokecheck.
He surprised me, Giroux said. If he doesnt pokecheck, its a goal.
Next, Danny Briere used more conventional means, a left-right move, but Anderson won the race to the post and Senators gained the extra point in a game in which they had been substantially outplayed.
NHL
Giroux had seven shots but not a single point, the way it goes sometimes and probably wont the next time. He didnt look like a guy pointless in his last three games. If there is a shootout today in Pittsburgh, you wont see, say, Nick Grossmann, in Girouxs standard second slot.
Claude has scored some unbelievable shootout goals, said Laviolette. When he pulls them off everybody says Wow, what a talented guy!
Unless you have the nerve and skill set to try things, you never know if you will succeed.
Jay Greenberg covered the Flyers for 14 years for the Daily News and Evening Bulletin. His history of the Flyers, Full Spectrum, was published in 1996. He can be reached at jayg616@aol.com.