He had spent part of the game in the press box, but, clearly, Claude Giroux was having a hard time sitting more than a 100 feet away from the ice, when he knew in his heart he belonged with his team.
On a night when the Flyers seemed galvanized to survive while their unequivocal leader served a one-game suspension, you could clearly see the difference not having Giroux made in Game 5 against the New Jersey Devils.
Maybe instead of it being 3-1 Devils, its 3-1 the other way.
Yeah, it's frustrating, Giroux said. I mean, the guys gave everything they had. They work hard and play the kind of hockey that we do play.
Not to be able to go to Game 6, it's frustrating, but guys gave everything they had and played pretty well.
Game 5 was the only game, outside of Game 1, where you could say the Flyers played pretty well.
Truth is, the Devils played the entire series at a level that far exceeded pretty well. More like exceptionally well.
NHL
They are a good team, Giroux said. They played well. They are good defensively. When they had a chance to put it in the net they did. I still think that we are a good team. It should have been a tighter series. We've just got to learn from it.
Among the lessons learned on a club that has an ample supply of youth is the need to carry emotion and intensity from one series to another..
Be honest about it. In the Flyers minds, the opening round against Pittsburgh seemed like an Eastern Conference final. In fact, there was nearly double the amount of national media coverage for the Penguins series, than this series.
The Devils? A mere afterthought on the way to what should have been a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals for the Flyers.
While Peter Laviolettes players were physically and emotionally up for the Penguins, it was alarmingly apparent they seemed disinterested passengers through Games 2 through 4 against New Jersey.
It doesn't matter who we knocked off, we just had to be ready for the next series, Giroux said. I think we were thinking we were going to walk over to New Jersey and they'll fall a little bit.
I guess we've got to learn from it. They are a good hockey team. They are well balanced and they played a pretty good series
The Flyers scored so easily and so often against Pittsburgh that it was impossible to imagine they would have just 11 goals in five games against New Jersey.
Or that the Devils would score more power play goals than them (4-3).
Pittsburgh played run n gun hockey. New Jersey played a methodical system, focusing on wearing the Flyers down in their own end to discourage a track meet.
Peter DeBoers Devils were so much harder on the puck. It was stunning how many one-on-one battles the Flyers lost all over the ice.
We know we could have done a lot more damage than that, Giroux said. And you saw guys in Game 5 play desperate hockey. They played with heart and that's how we should have played the whole series.
It was obviously a different series. I think we didn't play as well. The emotions weren't as there, but it's frustrating.
And the aftereffects will linger the entire summer while the Flyers wonder what could have been.
E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net