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Claude Giroux missed four games with a concussion, but on Wednesday night in Dallas, he picked up where he left off, scoring four points and regaining the NHL's scoring lead.
Claude Giroux scored his 17th goal of the season and added three helpers in a 4-1 Philadelphia Flyers' dismantling of the Dallas Stars Wednesday night at American Airlines Center. By virtue of the victory, Philadelphia moved ahead of the idle Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conference lead with 46 points.
After the Flyers kept everyone guessing as to Giroux's availability for Wednesday night's contest against the Stars, Giroux made quite the triumphant return to the club's lineup. After a four game absence due to a concussion, he showed no rust whatsoever and was in on all four Philadelphia goals to re-establish the NHL scoring lead in the process with 43 points. It was Giroux's third four-point game of the season, and he now has a six-game scoring streak after posting points in five consecutive games before his injury. He has four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in those six games.
As expected it was a chippy affair, with two physical clubs battling it out for the entire 60 minutes.
Dallas got off to an early lead when Scott Hartnell turned the puck over in the game's first minute, leading to a Stars' rush the other way. Loui Eriksson hit Michael Ryder with a pass down the left wing side, and Ryder snapped a wrist shot past Flyers' starter Sergei Bobrovsky for his 12th goal of the season just 56 seconds into the contest to stake Dallas to a 1-0 lead.
That's when Giroux and Philadelphia got things rolling offensively. He scored his 17th goal of the year to knot the game at 1-1 at the 8:30 mark, knocking a Jaromir Jagr pass by Stars' starter Richard Bachman and into the net. The point moved Giroux into sole possession of the scoring lead, passing Toronto's Phil Kessel, Vancouver's Henrik Sedin, and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who each had all crept up to create a logjam in a four way tie with 39 points with the Philly centerman on the sidelines.
Just over three minutes later with Dallas' Vernon Fiddler in the penalty box, Giroux sent a pass to Kimmo Timonen at the point, and the defenseman's shot was deflected on the way to the net by Wayne Simmonds and past Bachman for a 2-1 Philadelphia lead.
It was actually the second consecutive game in which Simmonds was credited with his 10th goal of the season, with the marker at 18.1 seconds left in Colorado on Monday night correctly being changed to Danny Briere yesterday.
With Simmonds hitting the 10-goal plateau, that now gives the Flyers six different skaters that have hit the double-digit mark.
To put an exclamation point as to just how chippy the contest had become, Flyers' head coach Peter Laviolette shoved Stars' agitator Steve Ott out of the way as the teams were leaving the ice at the first intermission. Ott appeared to be attempting to keep the coach back as his teammates went down the tunnel to the locker room, but Laviolette would have no part of it.
The bad blood appeared to carry over to the middle frame, as the teams combined for 42 PIMs in the period, including 10-minute misconducts to Philly's Tom Sestito, and Dallas' Adam Burish and Brenden Morrow. In the aftermath, Philadelphia came away with three power plays.
During one of the man advantages, Giroux spotted Jagr in front of the Dallas net and hit him with a perfect pass. Jagr snapped a shot past Bachman for his 11th of the year, giving the Flyers a 3-1 lead at 8:00 of the second stanza.
With the goal, Jagr passed Brendan Shanahan for sole possession of 11th place on the all-time NHL goal scoring list with 657.
Bobrovsky was excellent and made a huge stop late in the second period. Radek Dvorak went in on a breakaway, but the 23-year-old Russian goalie made the save to preserve the two goal lead heading into the third period.
In the final frame, a Giroux feed sprung Andrej Meszaros into the Dallas zone, and the defenseman beat Bachman top shelf for his fourth of the season to provide the final 4-1 margin of victory.
The Stars remain tied for the Western Conference's Pacific Division lead with the Phoenix Coyotes with 39 points.
Bobrovsky improved his record to 7-2-1 for the year, while Bachman fell to 4-2-0. But the big story as Giroux's return, and his continued dominance after returning from a concussion that failed to slow him down. And for one brief moment in Dallas, he turned "Big D" into "Big G."
Claude Giroux has been out of the Philadelphia Flyers' lineup since he suffered a concussion on Dec. 10, but it appears that he's almost ready to return to action. Giroux was cleared to return to all activity on Saturday and has been in full contact practice for a couple of days now. The Flyers have not given an exact timetable for his return, but if he's back in full contact practice, there's no reason to believe that he won't be back out on the ice shortly.
Giroux suffered the injury in a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, when he took an accidental shot to the head from teammate Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers are 2-2 since Giroux got injured and are still in first place in the Atlantic, but a terrible performance in a 6-0 loss to the Boston Bruins illustrated exactly what the Flyers are missing. Scott Hartnell and Maxime Talbot are producing at unsustainable clips, and the Flyers won't stay in first place without a healthy Giroux.
For more on Giroux and the Flyers, visit Philadelphia Flyers blog Broad Street Hockey.
The Philadelphia Flyers confirmed what essentially amounts to a worst-case scenario on Tuesday, saying that leading scorer Claude Giroux has a concussion. Giroux had already been ruled out for Tuesday's game against the Washington Capitals, but he is now out indefinitely.
Giroux suffered the injury on Saturday when teammate Wayne Simmonds inadvertantly kneed him in the back of the head. Giroux missed the third period, but the team said he was doing better on Monday. Tests on Tuesday, though, revealed a concussion.
The Flyers will undoubtedly miss Giroux. The NHL's leading scorer (39 points) has led the Flyers to the top of the Eastern Conference. Prior to the injury, the 23-year-old was well on his way to a career year, already having scored half as many points as last year when he set a career high with 76 points. His 16 goals are tied for sixth most in the league and his 23 assists are the second most.
For more on Giroux's injury, be sure to check out Flyers blog Broad Street Hockey.
Claude Giroux will miss Tuesday's Philadelphia Flyers game and will likely miss Thursday's game after being accidentally kneed in the back of the head during Saturday's 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. There are concerns that he may have suffered a concussion, according to CSN Philly, and he was held out of practice on Monday.
Giroux suffered the injury during the second period when teammate Wayne Simmonds collided with him. Giroux did not play in the third period and will be re-evaluated on Tuesday. The NHL's leading scorer (39 points) will not travel with the team for Tuesday's game against the Washington Capitals and is unlikely to join the team in time for Thursday's game at the Montreal Canadiens.
Although Giroux was reportedly not feeling any headaches after the game, the team is clearly proceeding with caution, especially in light of the latest news surrounding Sydney Crosby.
"I think if it were up to him, he would play tomorrow," linemate Jaromir Jagr said. "On the other side, the doctors have to make sure ... you don't want anything like what happened to [Sidney] Crosby. You have to be very careful because he's got the talent. You don't look for just the next game. You look for the next 10 years, not only two games."
For more on Giroux's absence, be sure to check out Flyers blog Broad Street Hockey.
Claude Giroux Returns From Injury, Scores Four Points For Flyers
Can this be called "Pulling a Sidney Crosby" now? Okay, so Philadelphia Flyers fans probably won't like that too much, but they're certainly thrilled that Claude Giroux scored four points in his first game back in the lineup for the Flyers, as they defeated the Dallas Stars 4-1. Giroux was involved on every goal and his four points put him back on top as the top scorer in the NHL.
Giroux missed four games with a concussion, sustained in an accidental collision with teammate Wayne Simmonds. He was cleared to practice over the weekend, and his return to the ice couldn't have possibly gone any better. He netted his team's first goal in the first period, then assisted on the next three goals as the Flyers bounced back from two straight losses and put in a great performance.
Check out recaps of Flyers vs. Stars from Broad Street Hockey and SB Nation NHL. For more on Giroux and the Flyers, visit Philadelphia Flyers blog Broad Street Hockey.
Dec 22 9:19a by Kevin McCauley - 0 comments