The Flyers just wrapped up their opening four game homestead with a tough loss against the Florida Panthers on Saturday night. With Saturday’s loss the Flyers have started the season 2-1-1 getting 5 out of 8 possible points. In the first four games there really hasn’t been too much to complain about with the teams overall performance.
One of the biggest bright spots has been the performance of the Flyers captain, Claude Giroux. The 33 year old has gotten off to a great start as he has 4 points in the first four games. Three of those four points have been goals, which hasn’t really been what the captain has been known for in recent years.
Giroux has been ripping the puck early on this year and he’s been playing with more of an edge that we haven’t seen in a while. Giroux has come into this season with a fire under his ass and has been nothing but great in these first four games. I have always been a huge Giroux supporter and still say he is the most under appreciated athlete in all of Philadelphia. We’ve even got to see a little more anger out of Giroux to start this season which is a very pleasant surprise.
So what’s different for Giroux this season? Well, first and foremost it’s a contract year for the captain and we all know what happens with players on the last year of their contract. They usually tear it up and play out of their minds. That is definitely part of the reason for Giroux’s early success, but also he’s come into this season completely healthy and pissed off after last years debacle. The guy has always had the talent and the amount of hate he gets has always been absurd.
Another key factor has been the play of his line mates Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny. Both of those guys weren’t’t fully healthy last year and it showed at times. This year they seems to be back to normal and the Flyers top line has been a lot of fun to watch in these first four games.
Hopefully, the Flyers offense can keep it going as they head out west for this three game road trip. It starts on Wednesday as the Flyers take on Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers.
-Walsh