Claude Giroux Leads Offense as Philadelphia Flyers Win Home Opener

Any critics that claimed Claude Giroux wasn’t ready to replace Mike Richards and Jeff Carter on offense are probably biting their tongues by now. Giroux put up three points in the first period, including a power play goal, giving him three consecutive games with a goal to start the year.

After winning two road games thanks to a shut-down defense and conservative play, the Philadelphia Flyers opened a new hockey season at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philly. The night began with a dramatic introduction that included more than a few unfamiliar faces, and ended with the smiling face of Andrej Meszaros as he scored the eventual game-winner in a 5-4 offensive struggle.

The Flyers have started the season a perfect 3-0-0.

Giroux showed the defending Western Conference champion Vancouver Canucks just how dangerous the Flyers power play will be this season when he rushed through the defense on a Chris Pronger dump-in and played a strange carom off the boards perfectly. He beat an off-balance Roberto Luongo to make the score 1-0.

Failing to learn their lesson in discipline, Vancouver’s Alexandre Burrows took a cross-checking penalty later in the first, allowing Philly’s newly-anointed captain to blast a goal from the point during the man advantage.  Luongo had no chance to see Chris Pronger’s one-timer through a Wayne Simmonds screen.

The Canucks pulled within one on their own power play. With Scott Hartnell serving a high-sticking minor in the box, Vancouver’s Mikael Samuelsson streaked unchecked to the net and pounced on a rebound to put the Canucks on the board.

Luongo sent the puck up the boards 1:13 later, where Giroux fired a pass to James van Riemsdyk in front of net. Luongo saved JVR’s initial shot, but the Jersey boy lifted the rebound over the Vancouver netminder to regain the two-goal lead.

Vancouver cut the lead in half again when a failed clear kept the Flyers in their own zone. During a scramble in front of the net, Burrows got the puck loose to an open Henrik Sedin in front of the net, who put the puck over a lunging Bryzgalov.

Sean Couturier, the first-round pick phenom, notched his first NHL point when he fed Jakub Voracek across the slot. Voracek hit the water bottle for his second goal as a Flyer, grabbing back the two-goal lead.

Couturier nearly upped the ante minutes later when he found iron with his own shot from the slot.

Vancouver tied the game with a Chris Higgins tally late in the second and a power play goal by Daniel Sedin in the third. Both goals came as a result of defensive miscues by the Flyers.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros, who was pinching and looking for offensive opportunities all game, netted the game winner only 61 seconds after Sedin tied the game when he broke into the zone amidst a Vancouver line change and found the top corner of the net. Danny Briere’s assist was his first point of the season.

Sean Watch:  Game 3 of his NHL career was hot and cold for Couturier. He got on the score sheet with a beautiful assist and nearly netted his first goal of the year in the second. However, some sloppy penalty killing in the third was a strong reminder of his young age, as he turned the puck over trying to kill the clock and was out of position for Sedin’s goal.

Overall though, he made a case that he might be underutilized in his third line role, as he moved the puck well on offense.

Lil Bryzy: Ilya Bryzgalov faced nearly as many shots in his third game as he had in his first two combined. He allowed four goals, but to his credit, none of them were soft. The Samuelsson and Henrik Sedin goals were the result of opponents jumping on the puck in front of the crease; the Higgins and Daniel Sedin goals were partially thanks to defensive miscues.

Keeping Your Head Up:  Former captain Mike Richards returns to Philadelphia Saturday, October 15^th.  The Los Angeles Kings are 1-1-0 and will play the Devils in New Jersey on Thursday before the group arrives in Philadelphia.

The Four-Check

• The Flyers took two penalties in the first two periods, but five in the third to tilt the ice badly in the final frame.  The lack of discipline across the board is concerning, but thus far has been isolated to just that third period this season.
• For all the time Jim Jackson and Bill Clement have spent talking about team chemistry, they appear to need to do some work on their own. Call it early-season rust, but there have been more than a few awkward booth moments this season, like their differing interpretations of whether or not to throw off the goalie mask during a Sedin wind-up. 
• Giroux has scored the Flyers’ opening goal in each game this season. 
• An incident during a third period penalty kill brought back memories for Flyers fans: Bryzgalov took a puck to the neck protector, breaking the equipment. He kept his mask on, but the play conjured memories of Brian Boucher shaking his mask off after taking a shot on a 5-on-3 against Buffalo last postseason. Boucher took his time getting it fixed to give his teammates some rest. Bryzgalov? He took the protector off entirely and played without it.