The Philadelphia Flyers and Flyers fans held their collective breath during the third period of Friday night's World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament game between Team Canada and Team USA in Columbus. Flyers captain Claude Giroux was hit heavily behind the net by Team USA forward Joe Pavelski, and went down awkwardly on what looked to be (accidental) knee-to-knee contact.
Giroux went down to the ice on all fours as Team Canada's trainer came out to tend to him. The player was able to slowly hobble off the ice on his own but only seemed to be putting his weight on one leg. Thankfully, he returned to the game shortly thereafter and seemed fine. He skated 12:11 of ice time, including 1:09 on the power play.
Team USA won the game, 4-2, on tallies by Zach Parise, Patrick Kane, Pavelski and Derek Stepan (empty net). Giroux was on the ice for the empty netter. Team Canada's goals came from Patrice Bergeron and Drew Doughty.
In goal, Jonathan Quick (40 minutes, 32 saves on 33 shots) and Ben Bishop (final 20 minutes, nine saves on 10 shots) split the chores for Team USA. Bishop survived being heavily crashed into during the third period. Carey Price went the distance in goal for Canada, turning back 21 of 24 shots.
On Saturday, there will be three pre-tournament games. Team Czech Republic will take on Team Russia again (10 a.m. ET, ESPN3), Team Finland rematches with Team Sweden (noon ET, ESPN3) and Canada and USA (7 p.m. ET, ESPN3) have another game.
In the Czech Republic vs. Russia game, look for Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth to get the start in net. He backed up Petr Mrazek in Thursday's 4-3 loss. Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek also plays for Team Czech Republic.