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| Flyers celebrate scoring against Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia. (Getty) |
Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Game 6 (Flyers win series 4-2)
Flyers 5, Penguins 1 (Recap, Box Score)
Claude Giroux. In the end he was one of the best players in the series, not just on Sunday.
He set a Flyers franchise record for most points in a playoff series with 14 including the three he registered in Game 6, and nearly every time he stepped on the ice he was the best player out there.
If you were wondering how he would handle being the No. 1 offensive threat in the absence of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, well, I think that question has been answered.
This is easy. Giroux set the tempo for this game in the opening 30 seconds.
After delivering a huge (and clean) hit on Sidney Crosby off the opening faceoff, Giroux took advantage of a Pittsburgh turnover and wired a lightning fast wrist shot past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to give Philadelphia a 1-0 lead. Coming into Sunday's game the team that scored first had lost every game, but you had to know that was not going to continue. Sooner or later a team was going to get that early momentum and and put a team away, and on Sunday it was Philadelphia that was able to do it.
A crazy series that went against everything we believed to be possible in the Stanley Cup playoffs in 2012.
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