While the Flyers were attempting to right the ship after a horrid start, Claude Giroux was a major part of that turnaround, as seen on this highlight, good enough for the No. 2 spot on our list of the top 10 goals of the 2013-14 NHL season.
Let's break it all down frame-by-frame and get some thoughts from those who enjoyed this one most and those who'd love to forget it forever.
The NHL is compromised of a group of men who are in the top 0.00000009% of hockey players on the planet. An elite group of athletes who, relative to everyone else who walk this earth, are incredible at their jobs. And among the planet's best, there are only a handful who have the ability to take over a game. The cream of the crop's cream, so to say.
Count Claude Giroux as one of those who walks among the rest of us mere mortals, and can take over a hockey game at will.
When he's not playing grab-ass in Ottawa, Giroux spends the majority of his time putting on an offensive clinic in Philadelphia. On a Thursday night in the middle of December, Giroux not only stole a game for his team at the Wells Fargo Center, but did something astonishing even by his own standards.
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: The important thing to remember with this goal is the context. The Flyers were down 3-0 heading into the third period, and this game felt more than over. They played a pretty lifeless 40 minutes and Columbus was all over them. I had drinks with Albert from BSH during this one, and it felt so shitty during that second intermission that he left and went home.
Giroux came alive in that third period though, and it was this sort of performance that really defined his season. It wasn't the first or the only time he put the Flyers on his back over the course of the year, but this was December and the Flyers were in the process of emerging out of the hole they had buried themselves into during the early part of the year. That hole was dug largely by Giroux's long goal drought to start the year, and you had this sense in late November and through December that Giroux took it a little personally. That he took extra responsibility for putting his team in that hole and that he was going to do whatever it took to get them out of it.
The 2nd best goal of 2013-14
This was a good Columbus team, finishing as the first wild card in the Eastern Conference playoffs and almost taking down the Penguins in Round 1. Again, while Philadelphia would end up snatching its season from the jaws of irrelevance, December was really when the turnaround was beginning. And Giroux was a major part of that.
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: This game demonstrated that perhaps more than any other. He assisted on Jake Voracek's goal early in the third to cut the Columbus lead to 3-1. Braydon Coburn scored shortly after to make it 3-2, but after Blake Comeau scored with 12 minutes left in the period it seemed like they weren't going to pull off the comeback. But then Giroux stepped up again, gaining the zone and ultimately creating a goal to make it 4-3. He then scored the tying goal all on his own fifty seconds later, finishing a rush started by Voracek.
How it unfolded
The Flyers established possession in the Blue Jackets' end with a dump-in after Columbus had turned the puck over via a dump-in of their own 200 feet away. Jakub Voracek had missed the net with a shot, but then cycled down low to reclaim the puck. As he came up to the half-wall, he sent a pass to Mark Streit at the point while Giroux was at the top of the dot, working his way down low.
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: There are so many damn elements to this thing that made it so special. For starters, Mark Streit's shot from the point and off the end boards might have been a set play the Flyers often use at home. You usually see Kimmo Timonen doing it on the far end of the ice, but this is pretty common: they know how those end boards bounce at Wells Fargo Center, and Streit may have been looking for Giroux when he directed the puck wide of the net. (He also may have been looking for Giroux to deflect the shot on net and missed -- hard to tell exactly.)
Either way, with no shooting lane to attack, Streit fired the puck in. As his shot screamed wide of Curtis McElhinney, it kicked off the boards, and toward Giroux, still making his way toward the icing line.
Giroux established possession while David Savard was practically stitched onto his orange jersey. One of the most important elements to this play was that Giroux takes the puck on his stick in one fluid motion, and wouldn't waste much energy doing much else.
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: Regardless of the set up, Giroux brought out his magic on this one. He turned his back to the defenseman and away from the net, almost certainly planning on throwing it up the boards or back around behind the net or doing anything but put it on net. I mean, that defenseman on him has three inches and 40 pounds on him. No way he gets that puck anywhere near the net. Just protecting the puck here is a chore, let alone getting a shot on a net that he's not even looking towards.
As Savard continued to work Giroux over, his options seemed non-existent. With Voracek—top right of the frame—heading off for a change, the Flyers were playing 4-on-5 in the zone. Ryan Murray had Scott Hartnell covered in front while R.J. Umberger (take a good look, Claude; that's your new teammate) was roving in between the dots looking to intercept a pass back to the point.
Savard defended this about as well as anyone could have. Giroux had his back to goal with a good view of the advertisements along the far boards. His knees began to buckle as the Blue Jackets defenseman shoves him toward the ice.
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: He must've seen something there at some point, though.
What happened next requires no explanation, mostly because trying to put in words what Giroux did is an impossible task. Giroux was almost laying on the ice. The space between McElhinney's left shoulder and the post was about big enough to drive a Hot Wheels through. And yet, in game breaker, "I'm ready to put the team on my back" mode, none of that mattered for Giroux.
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: McElhinney gave him just a sliver of day light and Giroux somehow put it there without looking He let the shot loose with that ogre knocking him to the ice, and his skates weren't even on the ice when he let go of the puck! Yet he still got enough on the shot to beat McElhinney's glove. I don't even know if physics really support this goal.
Dan P., The Cannon: Can my insight consist of the curse words I yelled when it went in?
Jeff Little, The Cannon: How about "Pure luck?" Seriously?
Travis Hughes, Broad Street Hockey: On top of all that, this was Giroux's 100th career goal. No big deal. I high-fived a few total strangers after this one, and then I texted Albert to make fun of him for leaving early.
Matt Wagner, The Cannon: Man, this one.
You just had to ask about this one, didn't you?
You know the feeling you get when your car is going downhill, faster and faster, and suddenly you see a stalled out semi-truck at the bottom? This whole game was basically that. After an amazing, runaway success of a start, the Flyers found their way back into this game, despite being down 3-0 at the start of the third period (Thanks so much, McBackup), and you just felt this creeping sensation of dread as they pulled out an offensive zone faceoff in a tied game with two minutes left.
The moment Voracek gets the puck over to Giroux? That was the feeling of trying to stop the car ... and the brake pedal goes straight to the floor.
On the one hand, that was the only game Philly won against Columbus last season.
On the other, it was a game we handed to them on a silver platter.
Ugh. Thanks for reminding me about this.
But, hey, at least we (eventually) got Scott Hartnell out of this mess.