Replay of the Day: “When the best player in the world comes up to you and says, ‘I don’t know who you’re planning on starting tonight, but I want that first shift… that says everything you need to know about Claude Giroux right there,” Philadelphia Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette said after his team’s Game 6 series-clinching victory. “He made sure the Flyers moved on to the second round.”
Five seconds into the game, Giroux lays a hard, clean hit on another “best player in the world,” Sidney Crosby, setting the tone for the game.
“Sometimes when you get a chance to hit another player, I think you just gotta go out there and do it,” Giroux would say later.
Thirty-two seconds into the game, on that same first shift he requested, Giroux – like a ginger possessed – streaks into the Pens’ zone and snipes the opening goal past Marc-Andre Fleury.
In a half-minute of work, Giroux, who leads all playoff players in goals (6), assists (8), points (14) and plus/minus (+6), had damaged the confidence of an all-star goalie and dumped the opposition’s premier talent on his ass.
“Anything you do, you want to be the best at it. If that’s to score goals or do hits or block shots, whatever it is, I’m gonna try to do it,” Giroux said after the game.
