Resilient Phantoms Defeat Laval

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms continue to hang tough despite a severely depleted lineup. On Friday, Kerry Huffman's club skated to a 3-2 victory over the Laval Rocket at the PPL Center in Allentown. Branden Komm stopped 34 of 36 shots, the Phantoms went 2-for-3 on the power play and their league-leading penalty kill went 4-for-5 including a successful five-minute kill in the first period.

Mikhail Vorobyev was a force in this game and led the way offensively, notching a power play goal (6th) and assists (14th and 15th) at even strength and on the power play for a three-point night. The Phantoms also got a power play goal from recent acquisition Justin Bailey (10th) after an early first-period point shot goal (8th) by Philippe Myers. Veteran forward Chris Conner contributed two assists (20th and 21st) while Greg Carey (23rd) and Philip Samuelsson (5th) chipped in one helper apiece.

Carter Hart, assigned by the Flyers to the Phantoms for the weekend in order to get in some work over the NHL bye week and All-Star break, backed up Reading Royals callup Komm. Originally, primary Phantoms starter Alex Lyon (coming off a stellar 40-save, 3 shootout stop performance on Wednesday) was slated to go but was unavailable to make the start after getting injured in the morning skate. Komm was recalled from Reading to step into the crease and make the start.

By virtue of the Phantoms starting Komm against Laval, Hart was not pressed into service on his first day back on the ice following a bye week trip home to Alberta. Hart is the probable starter for Saturday's road game in Bridgeport against the Sound Tigers.

The Phantoms have posted a six-game point streak (4-0-2), which may not sound too impressive, but the club has been dealing with a severe personnel shortage. Rookie center Connor Bunnaman was sidelined for Friday's game, joining the likes of Nicolas Aube-Kubel, David Kase, Cole Bardreau and German Rubtsov (out for the season). A couple of other players are banged up but remain in the lineup. Veteran offensive defenseman T.J. Brennan also remains unavailable to play while reigning AHL MVP Phil Varone has been up in the NHL with the Flyers since early December.

Through it all, the team has persevered even with head coach Scott Gordon having been elevated to the Flyers' interim head coaching job with Huffman moving up from Phantoms assistant to Phantoms interim head coach. Goals have understandably become much tougher to come by and the Phantoms have been giving up a slew of opposing shots on goal on almost a nightly basis but their goaltending and penalty kill have given them a chance to win.

It hasn't only been the goaltending. The Phantoms still have a good veteran leadership group who have helped keep everyone focused through the adversity. Among the prospect-aged players, there have been some encouraging signs. Myers, who has looked NHL callup-ready for weeks, has played a high caliber of two-way hockey. Fellow defenseman Mark Friedman has taken steps forward in his second pro year. The naturally talented Vorobyev has been more engaged in most of his recent games than he was in the early weeks following his AHL reassignment from the Flyers. Bunnaman had been a nice goal-scoring run prior to getting banged up.

The Phantoms (24-15-5) have pulled into second place in the Atlantic Division with 53 points, one more than Bridgeport and three more than than Springfield. Both the Sound Tigers and Thunderbirds have played one more game to date (45 GP) than Lehigh Valley. Nevertheless, Saturday night's road game in Bridgeport is a big one for the Phantoms.

If all goes according to the plan that Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher apparently laid out for Hart, he will be recalled to the big team after making Saturday's start in goal for the Phantoms against the Sound Tigers. Hart participated in Friday's morning skate in Allentown: his first work since his stellar performance for the Flyers last Saturday in Montreal. Saturday's AHL start and an afternoon practice day with the Flyers on Sunday should be a sufficient lead-in to keeping the 20-year-old sharp ahead of the Winnipeg Jets' visit to the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.

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Celebration Game: Flyers Alumni vs. Snider Hockey Alumni

The Flyers Alumni will take to the ice as part of the 2019 NHL Stadium Series weekend of events in a celebratory game with alumni from the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation (Snider Hockey). The game, billed as the Alumni Showdown, will take place on Friday, February 22 at 7 p.m. at the Class of ‘23 Arena on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to puck drop, plans will be unveiled to extensively renovate the facility. When construction is completed, the new facility will be named the Ed Snider/ Flyers Alumni Ice Rink at the Class of ’23 Arena and will be a hub for Snider Hockey.

The Class of 1923 Rink and the University of Pennsylvania have special meaning to both the Flyers and the Snider family. The facility was the Flyers' primary training rink from the late 1960s until 1983. It was the practice day home of the Broad Street Bullies and the "Streak" team of 1979-80.

Within the Snider family, Ed was the benefactor of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Children Jay, Lindy and Sarena Snider respectively attended Penn as undergrads and/or graduate students.

The rink overall project is largely possible by the Flyers Alumni acting on a $2 million pledge they made to support Snider Hockey as a thank you to Mr. Snider shortly before he passed away. Additionally, the NHL and Penn have also joined the Flyers Alumni and Snider Hockey in support of this effort, which will allow Snider Hockey to expand and bring its daily youth enrichment programs to a new audience.

“The Flyers Alumni are very excited about this project at the Class of ’23 Arena,” said Flyers Alumni President, Brad Marsh. “Mr. Snider had a lasting impact on our lives, as well as the entire hockey community in Philadelphia. This pledge was made as a way to honor Mr. Snider’s legacy and continue to grow the sport of hockey.”

“The Flyers Alumni have supported Snider Hockey since our inception,” said Snider Hockey President, Scott Tharp. “This is a great example of what can be done when organizations come together in support of their community. Mr. Snider would be proud.”

The Flyers Alumni will field a roster of 35 players including former Flyers forward Scott Hartnell in his first alumni game, Danny Briere, Nick Schultz, Brian Boucher, Brad Marsh, Joe Watson and many more. Rosters for both teams will be released in the coming weeks.

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Meltzer's Musings: Giroux's Career Remains Underappreciated

Scott Gordon recently said of Claude Giroux that he has trouble convincing the team captain (along with center Sean Couturier) to take a maintenance day. Typically, All-Star Game participants are excused from their team's first practice after the rest of the team has been off-ice during the All-Star Break.

Giroux does take "maintenance mornings" from morning skates on game days but doesn't like to miss skating even at optional practices -- which promptly become full or almost-full sessions, following his lead -- and almost never misses a full practice unless he is playing through something that requires rest between games. Even then, he has to be either pretty banged up or severely under the weather to not at least put in an off-ice workout. Plain and simple, a huge reason for Giroux's resurgence in his late 20s into his early 30s is that he is in the best physical condition of his career and he works his tail off to maintain it during the season whereas many players "decondition" to some extent due to the demands of the schedule.

With a cross-country flight back to Philadelphia awaiting him after Saturday's NHL All-Star Game and then a Flyers game-night at home on Monday, it would not be a surprise if Giroux has to make an exception to his usual routine. No doubt, if he's not on the Skate Zone ice on Sunday afternoon, there will be a clueless element who criticize him for "setting a bad example" when the reality is that he is one of the hardest-working players on an everyday basis to be found anywhere in the league. However, his teammates, coaches and anyone even remotely around the team realize that fact.

Giroux has always and will always be more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. However, exiting the NHL All-Star break, Giroux will be only four goals away from tying Mark Recchi and Rick Tocchet for 11th on the Flyers all-time goals list (232). He needs seven tallies over the rest of the season to tie Rod Brind'Amour (235 goals) for 10th. Giroux's 501 assists are already the second-most in franchise history, behind only Bobby Clarke (852).

Giroux's 729 career points put him 120 points behind Brian Propp for 3rd in franchise history. Provided that the 31-year-old stays healthy, he should be able to catch Propp in the latter part of the 2019-20 season. Beyond Propp's 849 points points, Hockey Hall of Famer Bill Barber is second in franchise history with 883 points. That mark would take a healthy Giroux until some point of the 2020-21 season to catch. Hockey Hall of Famer Clarke's 1,210 career points are probably unreachable but Giroux may comfortably be second all-time by the time he is done. Yes, I do think there is a strong possibility that Giroux will spend his entire NHL playing career in Philadelphia ala Clarke and Barber.

It would great if he could hoist the Stanley Cup at some point before he's done, but teams win the Cup. The ultimate example: The remnants of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty of the 1980s still had one more Stanley Cup left in them (1989-90) even after Wayne Gretzky's departure. Meanwhile, even though the Great One still had five monster seasons left in him and several other seasons beyond that that most merely mortal players would gladly have taken, he never won another Cup after his Edmonton years and only played in one additional Cup Final.

While the Flyers are unlikely to make the playoffs this year and have not advanced past the first round since 2012, I think it is unfair to single out Giroux for blame. His last two individual playoffs -- 2016 and 2018 -- were not up to the level the team would have needed to upset either Washington or Pittsburgh but the truth is that the Flyers were overmatched in both series. Ditto 2014 against the Rangers in which Giroux had six points in the seven-game series.

In terms of playoff production, Giroux has 65 points (24 goals, 41 assists) in 69 career playoff games. That ranks 9th in franchise history, but Danny Briere (68), Reggie Leach(69), Tim Kerr(70), and John LeClair (74) are within reach. The top four: Clarke (119), Propp (112), Barber (108) and MacLeish (105).

With 41 career playoff assists, Giroux ranks 7th in franchise history. The top 6: Clarke (77), Propp (60), Barber (55), MacLeish (52), Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Howe (45) and Ken Linseman (42).

Giroux's unproductive 2016 (one assist in six games) and relatively unproductive 2018 (one goal, two assists in six games) playoff runs pushed him below a point-per-game in his playoff career but he is still in the franchise top seven in that category at .942 points-per-game. Giroux's career playoff points-per-game is actually higher than Clarke's (.875) or Barber's (.837).

The Flyers top seven playoff point-per-game players (excluding Peter Forsberg who had eight points in six games in his lone Flyers playoff series) is as follows: 1) Eric Lindros (1.14), 2) Briere (1.06), 3) Linseman (1.02), 4) MacLeish (0.972), 5) Propp (.966), 6) Tim Kerr(.959), 7) Giroux (.942). Lindros is also the Flyers all-time regular season points-per-game leader (659 points in just 486 games, 1.36 points per game).

No matter how one slices-and-dices Giroux's career, he has been one of the best players in franchise history. As for inevitable "what did the team win?" question, I would argue that, while Briere's 2010 playoff run deservedly earned a place in franchise lore, the 2010 playoffs also marked 2nd-season NHLer Giroux's emergence as an NHL star as he produced 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) and scored an overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Finals against Chicago. He also played like a man possessed in the 2012 playoffs (17 points in 10 games, including eight goals) and especially tore apart the Pittsburgh Penguins -- who had been the massive favorite in the media to win the Cup -- in the Flyers' first-round upset victory.

Last season, Giroux absolutely deserved to at least finish in the top 3 in Hart Trophy balloting. He finished fourth. Unfortunately, after he was so consistently excellent all season -- the NHL awards ballots are filed at the end of the regular season -- Giroux was not at his best in the playoffs against Pittsburgh. That fueled some of his critics anew. Nevertheless, the "Giroux doesn't produce in the biggest games" argument is easily disproved by looking at his career as a whole.

The main reasons the Flyers have missed the playoffs on alternating year basis during Giroux's captaincy (2012-13 season to present) and have not won a playoff series are NOT primarily failings by the player himself. He's not completely blameless in certain situations but his overall body of work and leadership-by-example has been far more positive than negative.

In the lockout shortened 2012-13 season, the Flyers got off to a slow start and ran out of time to pull themselves out of the hole. They'd lost Chris Pronger to his career-ending post-concussion issues suffered the previous year. Danny Briere had broken his hand while playing in Germany during the lockout. Scott Hartnell missed considerable time. Matt Read (coming off a 24-goal rookie year and leading the Flyers in goals early the next season) came back too soon from a ribcage injury.

The blueline, already without Pronger, was riddled with injuries to the likes of Kimmo Timonen (only 3 games missed, but many games played at about 70 percent health) and regulars such as Braydon Coburn, Andrej Meszaros and a Nick Grossmann. The blueline ended up manned by the likes of Kurtis Foster, Bruno Gervais, Kent Huskins, a 22-year-old Brandon Manning and other callups such as Oliver Lauridsen and even Matt Konan.

I haven't even touched upon three other vital elements to why the 2012-13 season went so poorly: 1) The second and final year of the Ilya Bryzgalov saga, and the constant drama that surrounded Bryz, often of his own making but sometimes not; 2) Peter Laviolette's half-hearted concession to significantly tweaking his attack-oriented system to meet the capabilities of his severely depleted roster. If not even the head coach truly embraced the idea, it was a mighty tough sell to the dressing room at large after the club had so much previous success in Lavy's preferred system. Meanwhile, Bryz and Lavy were constantly at odds over Bryz wanting D-zone tweaks that benefited his preferences (specifically, less shot-blocking emphasis in front of him) and Bryz frequently throwing teammates under the bus; 3) the constant countdown to the inevitable cap compliance "amnesty" buyouts of the beloved Briere and the serially controversial Bryzgalov starting to overshadow the efforts to rescue the season.

Given the depleted personnel and the constant distractions, I'm not sure what any captain, not even Bob Clarke or Dave Poulin, could have done to reel the room during such a season. First-year captain Giroux did what he could, and had a good individual season.

In 2013-14, there was further upheaval. Lavy was fired three games into the regular season. The team struggled to acclimate big-ticket veteran signing Vincent Lecavalier into the lineup, and he wound up playing on all four lines and even stints on a wing rather than his longtime center position. As a club, goals were hard to come for the first six weeks of the season. A now 38-year-old Timonen had to be overrelied upon to eat massive all-situation minutes and wore down by the stretch drive. New goaltender Steve Mason had a good first full season in Philly but suffered a concussion late in the season that forced him to miss the early portion of the first-round playoff series against a deeper New York Rangers club.

Somehow, the team still managed to go 42-27-10 after Craig Berube took over from Laviolette. Giroux absolutely was a vital part of the team making the playoffs, as he posted 86 points in 82 games. He was a Hart Trophy finalist, and deservedly so.

The Flyers wound up stretching the Rangers to a seven-game series, largely because of how well Mason played once he was able to get back into the lineup but also because Giroux delivered some big tone-setting performances when the team won each of the even-numbered games in the series. Philly lost 2-1 in Game 7. The Rangers went on to reach the Stanley Cup Final.

In 2014-15, the first season of the Ron Hextall era and Berube's second and final year as Flyers coach, there was all sorts of internal turbulence. Most notably, there was constant drama around goaltending injuries (especially to Mason, who had his career-best season when actually in the lineup, but was at the center of much internal turbulence) as well as Timonen's health issues (blood clot diagnosis in the summer, and eventual trade to Chicago at the deadline). Lecavalier and Berube never got on the same page. An offseason trade that sent Hartnell to Columbus in exchange for an unhealthy and unproductive R.J. Umberger, now a shell of the player he used to be, did not work out well. There was a major downturn in Read's play after he suffered a high ankle sprain. Berube came under fire for not deploying Sean Couturier in more offensive zone situations. Goalie coach Jeff Reese departed in March. Berube was left hanging over his job status and then finally dismissed.

Giroux's individual 2014-15 season was not as good as his previous year. Nevertheless, he was still tied for 10th in the Art Ross Trophy race. And he still managed to dress in 81 of 82 games despite being a game-day decision multiple times due to nagging injuries.

Now we get into the Dave Hakstol-coached years. For all of the team's yearly ups and downs and excessively streaky play -- long winning streaks and lengthy losing skids competed with one another on a seemingly annual basis, and whether the Flyers made or missed the playoffs largely depended on which goalie(s) were healthy and/or playing well and for how long. That issue has continued right into the current season.

In 2015-16, the team rallied around one another to make the playoffs but ran into a stellar Washington Capitals team in the first round of the playoffs and promptly lost Couturier for the series to a shoulder injury in Game 1.

Mason had a tumultuous year on both a personal level (a family tragedy) and professional level (terrible first half, outstanding stretch drive). He was strong in Game 1 of the Washington series, but the Flyers got shut out. Mason started out Game 2 fine but then a disastrous 100-foot goal early in the second period of Game 2 followed by a teamwide implosion on home ice in Game 3 became the defining moments of his Flyers career. New arrival Michal Neuvirth, alternated between stretches of phenomenal goaltending, ice-cold streaks after getting the opportunity to take over as the No. 1 goalie and intervening significant stints spent on injured reserve. Neuvirth's season ended on an up note, though, as he was nothing short of brilliant in Games 4-6 of the Washington series and nearly got the series to seven games all by himself.

Giroux needed core muscle (hip and groin) surgery after the season, as did phenom rookie defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere. Neither player let on anything publicly until after the season. In Giroux's case, he had an OK regular season (22 goals, 67 points in 78 games played) and then struggled mightily in the playoff series against Washington. Gostisbehere had a brilliant regular season after his AHL recall, earning top runner-up honors for the Calder Trophy and was a shoo-in for a NHL All-Rookie Team selection but he, too, had a poor playoff.

Without a doubt, Giroux's 2016-17 season was the worst of his NHL career to date. In coming back from a surgery that often negatively affects players for at least half to three-quarters of the next season, he struggled all season on both sides of the puck because his quickness (he's never been especially fast and he's undersized) was lacking. There was much speculation -- extremely premature, as it turned out -- as to whether Giroux was truly a first-line caliber player anymore.

Giroux's struggles were far from the only reason why the Flyers missed the playoffs that season. Veterans such Jakub Voracek and youngsters such as second-year NHLer Gostisbehere and rookie forward Travis Konecny struggled defensively and also scuffled at times for offensive production. The blueline was patchwork, with aging and/or inconsistent players having to absorb a lot of minutes and a rookie Ivan Provorov emerging (after a rough first month) as the team's best all-around defenseman. The "goaltending tandem" pendulum swung between an unhappy Mason, who was awful in the first half and then excellent after the All-Star break, and the streaky and increasingly oft-injured Neuvirth (who finished statistically ranked at the bottom of all NHL goalies who played 15 or more games) with rookie callup Anthony Stolarz seeing time to fill in the gaps.

In 2017-18, the Flyers flat out would not have made the playoffs if not for Giroux's career-best 102-point season (including his first career 30+ goal season). A bounceback year from Gostisbehere, not just offensively but in terms of improved defensive play, and an outstanding all-around year from Provorov helped solidify the top end of the blueline although the other two pairings were inconsistent. Voracek had a bounceback offensive year to help offset a down year from Wayne Simmonds (dealing with a litany of injuries, including a need for after-season surgery to repair a midline pelvic tear he'd played through since training camp).

Beyond his stats, Giroux unselfishly embraced the idea of a move from center to left wing in order to play on a new top line centered by Couturier. As captain, he never pointed fingers when the team went through an 0-5-5 spell in November to early December. The Flyers still managed a 98-point season.

The team did so even as both veteran addition Brian Elliott (apart from an inconsistent October, generally a first-half bright spot in his play even during the 10-game winless skid and then a key to the team's surge that followed) and Neuvirth were lost to injuries. That was no small accomplishment.

Neuvirth had been signed to a two-year contract extension, despite his constant injury concerns and subpar 2016-17 play. Elliott, more of a stoic than Mason, was signed as a two-year alternative despite coming off a down year in Calgary following a generally strong run as a tandem goalie in his St. Louis Blues years. With Elliott and Neuvirth (and Stolarz, who was out nearly the entire season) unavailable, Alex Lyon held his own at the NHL level for awhile even if it didn't always look pretty. The addition of Petr Mrazek via trade with Detroit, intended to bring some stability and the potential for a hot run, brought only continued inconsistency in net to the point that Hakstol ended up feeling compelled to entrust the two less-than-healthy goalies with the primary duties in the playoffs.

Elliott, who underwent midseason core muscle surgery and still needed a postseason hip procedure, was put on a maintenance plan in order to be able to play in two late-season games game and re-assume starting duties at the beginning of the playoffs against two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh. He battled gamely but was ineffective in his own right and received insufficient help in front of him. The reigns were subsequently turned over to Neuvirth, who also did his best to compete but was clearly hampered physically.

The Flyers' six-game loss to Pittsburgh was not solely a goaltending issue. Many of the key skaters, including Giroux and Gostisbehere, had a below-average series that was rather reminiscent of the Washington series two years earlier except now against an opponent that was wildly inconsistent in its own right. At times, the Penguins dominated to the point of games looking like a total mismatch. At other junctures, Pittsburgh looked very vulnerable (especially a thin blueline and inconsistent goaltending from game-to-game).

Somehow and some way, the Flyers got the series to Game 6, with the match tied heading into the third period. It was basically done through smoke and mirrors in Games 2 and 5 in Pittsburgh. More specifically, the Flyers were spurred by Game 5 and 6 scoring heroics by an injured Couturier (MCL sprain suffered in a practice collision with teammate Radko Gudas), a strong series from Provorov until he suffered a shoulder separation late in Game 5 and ineffectively tried to play through it in Game 6, and a turn-back-the-clock one-game resurgence in Game 5 by an otherwise struggling Valtteri Filppula.

Giroux's individual series was a strange one. He had only three points in the series (one goal, two assists) but, more importantly, his game-to-game effectiveness was inconsistent. Game 1, a 7-0 shellacking of a loss, got away from the team very quickly. Giroux, who was a one-man wrecking crew in the team's playoff berth-clinching regular season finale and a force throughout the stretch drive, was among the many Flyers who had a rough night in Game 1.

In Game 2, a 5-1 Flyers win, Giroux had only one point but easily could have had three. He had Michael Raffl set up in the first period with a half-empty staring at him but Raffl hit the post. In the final minute of the first period, Giroux set up Gostisbehere for a power play goal and a 1-0 lead to take to the first intermission. In the opening minute of the second period, Couturier was credited with a fluky side-angle goal that re-directed past goaltender Matt Murray. At first it was unclear if the puck bounced in off Giroux or Penguins defenseman Letang as they jostled for position at netfront but replays showed it hit only the defender, so it was Couturier's goal.

Also in Game 2, it was Giroux who landed a big second period hit on the volatile Letang on a play that got under the Penguins' skin and became a source of between-game controversy. On the flip side, Giroux had a couple of turnovers and near turnovers that could have been negative momentum changers. He also had at attempt at an empty net goal batting down by a Pittsburgh stick. Elliott looked vulnerable all game but competed his way to a win and second-star honors.

Game 3 in Philadelphia was a fiasco for the Flyers that played out very similarly to the blowout loss of Game 1. Giroux never got much going offensively, and was minus-three in a 5-0 loss.

Game 4 in Philly started out well. The Flyers played their best 20 minutes of the series up to that point. Giroux created several scoring chances. However, all the Flyers took away from the first period was an 11-4 shot edge and a 1-0 scoreboard deficit. Philly imploded in the second period.

An early period slashing penalty on Giroux was turned into a Pittsburgh power play goal. The Penguins then scored on the power play again after a Voracek hooking minor. The coup de grace was what happened directly off the ensuing center ice faceoff with Giroux on the ice. The Flyers had not yet refocused and the Penguins scored within five seconds, complete with a stoppable shot by Brian Dumoulin leaking through Elliott. The rest was academic, and the Penguins won, 5-1.

Facing elimination in Game 5, the Flyers played a determined and generally disciplined first period and, unlike Game 4, got rewarded with a 1-0 lead at intermission courtesy of Giroux's tally with 2:31 remaining on the clock. Over the rest of the game, the Penguins outshot Philly by a 27-16 margin and took over the lead in the second period until Filppula scored shorthanded late in the period to send the game to the third period tied a 2-2. A hobbling Couturier put Philly ahead to stay with just 1:45 left in regulation and Read added an empty netter (the fifth and final postseason goal he scored in 30 playoff games as a Flyer) to seal the win. Apart from one bad goal, Neuvirth held the fort and authored some tough stops in a 30-save performance despite struggling on rebounds and having hampered mobility.

That set the stage for the roller coaster ride that was Game 6 in Philadelphia, marked by the Flyers being unable to protect a two-goal lead in the latter stages of the second period, falling behind very early in the third period after a Provorov turnover and a Jake Guentzel natural hat trick with plenty of Flyers frustration -- an awful non-call of a Letang trip on Couturier followed a moment later by Guentzel's second goal and then the hat trick goal scored 10 seconds after play resumed because the Flyers once again failed to calm down and get refocused. On the flip side, Couturier had a hat trick and two assists to figure in every Flyers goal in the 8-5 loss.

Giroux, who set up Couturier's third goal, logged 20:50 of ice time in the final game. As with Game 2, he missed out on a potential multi-point game due to a linemate (Raffl) getting off an errant shot from the slot with net staring at him. At the time, the Flyers were leading 3-2 and went to eventually lead 4-2 so it didn't seem like a pivotal play. In hindsight, it's hard to say if an extra second period goal would have made a difference.

All in all, Giroux's individual series against the Penguins was not to the level it needed to be for his team to pull off an upset. I'd have said that even if he had wound up finishing with about five points in the six games, which he just as easily could have and would have looked similar to his 2014 series line against the Rangers although he played better overall in the earlier series. Giroux's below-his-standards series played into why the Flyers were lucky it went as far as it did.

Also, the teamwide problem of getting reset after an opposing goal and allowing another one quickly thereafter -- which has lingered right into junctures of the current season -- is something that the players themselves need to better address, so that is something for which the captain and the leadership group can fairly be criticized.

On the whole, though, I don't think the Flyers were going to beat Pittsburgh even if Giroux played to his 2017-18 regular season level. Ditto Gostisbehere. On a team vs. team level, there were simply too many things -- Pittsburgh playmaking ability and team D lapses, penalty killing letdowns, goaltending, lack of sufficient Flyers forward depth to compete head-to-head with the Penguins' fearsome top 9 even after Evgeni Malkin went down, Philly's blueline getting exposed and unable to surpass their less-than-stellar counterparts in the Pittsburgh starting six, a lack of sniping ability on the wings and other issues -- that created unfavorable matchups for Philly.

Basically, containing the Flyers top line and power play and not needing Murray to bail the team out too often in what was a down year for the Pittsburgh netminder was sufficient for the Penguins in light of their attacking and counter-punching ability. The Flyers would have needed to make Pittsburgh earn every single goal and have been much opportunistic on their own chances to steal away Games 4 and 6, which were the two that were probably winnable if better played.

This past offseason, the Flyers added James van Riemsdyk to attempt to solve the need for a scoring winger. However, now-former GM Hextall opted to cross his fingers again that post-operative Elliott and Neuvirth would hold up physically and provide stability in goal. He came up short in the quest for a third-line center. No veteran defensive help was added apart from seventh defenseman Christian Folin, nor were any PK-geared forwards added except for the projected replacement of the departed Read with veteran AHL/NHL swingman Corban Knight (injured most of the season) being promoted from the Phantoms to the NHL level.

As such, the Flyers entered the current season with question marks, especially with Couturier and a post-op Simmonds having had abbreviated training camps. None of the question mark areas have worked out the Flyers' way -- most notably, a revolving door of goaltenders until the 20-year-old Hart came up and provided hope for stability moving forward. The penalty kill was sub 70 percent at Thanksgiving although it has generally stabilized since that time.

Even two areas that were NOT considered question marks have fallen short of expectations; namely the Flyers power play and neither Provorov nor Gostisbehere having played anywhere close to their level from last season. There has been front office turnover with Hextall and assistant GM Chris Pryor being fired in favor of Fletcher and Brent Flahr. There has been change behind the bench with blueline assistant coach Gord Murphy giving way to Rick Wilson and then Hakstol's tenure ending and Gordon transferring from Allentown to Philly.

How much of all that can fairly be pinned on Giroux, either on the ice or as a leader? As captain, maybe a small portion of the power play issues, but he hasn't been one of the guys who has struggled. As the team's go-to tone setters, the core group is certainly not blameless in things that often get blamed primarily on the coaching staff: teamwide slow starts to games early in the season, a tendency toward latter-game frustration when goals don't go in during the first period, stretches of excessive penalty-taking and for the team needing more consistent 200-foot buy-in from its forwards.

On the flip side, if Giroux is going to be assigned blame, he also deserves commendation for ways where he's shown good leadership. He's willingly switched back to playing center again, enabling Couturier to center the second line and the club to plug Nolan Patrick into a lower-pressure third-line role. For the first time in a few years, he's regularly killing penalties again. Recently, the captain has willingly switched from his familiar left half-wall spot on the power play to the opposite side. In general, he's continued to try to help spur struggling teammates by asking that they be put on his line.

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