There's Not A Single Right-Handed One-Timer On The Powerplay Better Than Claude Giroux
***UPDATE: It was brought to my attention that this goal last night was at even strength. I blame the 10pm puck drop for making my brain deliriously remembering this happening on the powerplay. Regardless, everything I said remains the same***
A lot of people will erroneously refer to that spot as the Ovi Office. I get how some could make that mistake. Alex Ovechkin has been known to score a goal or two on the powerplay. Other people may even consider that spot to belong to Steven Stamkos. He’s got one of the heaviest clappers in the business and can drop the Stammer Hammer on the powerplay on the regular.
But when it comes to right-handed one-timer cannons on the powerplay, Claude Giroux is the boogey man which every goaltender in the National Hockey League fears the most. And this is precisely why.
Now for starters, Shayne Gostisbehere threads that needle like he’s your grandma working on your Christmas sweater. Stretches the defense with his feet, and then drops one off right on the money to Captain Claude at the faceoff dot. And then as soon as that puck is loaded up for G, he puts that shit on an elevator heading straight to the top floor with zero stops along the way.
Poor Hamburglar. Imagine if your job description entailed trying to stop bullets with your body. You probably wouldn’t be having tons of fun either. But yeah, from that spot with all of that open space, Claude Giroux is damn near automatic. At the very least, it’s always going to be a quality chance.
27 goals on the year for G. 93 points which is good for top 5 in the league. Not a big deal or anything considering almost everybody was writing him off last year as being on the downswing of his career. He’s tied now with 2011-12 Claude Giroux for the most points in his career with 93 in 78 games played. In case anybody here forgets how math works, that means the next point Giroux has will be his new career high. Again, it’s not a big deal or anything.
P.S. – Flyers finally get a win in regulation again last night. Especially with Florida losing in regulation last night, those 2 points were beyond necessary with the playoff picture looking like this heading into the final week of the regular season.
4 games left. Bruins, Islanders, Hurricanes, Rangers. Not exactly a ton of insurance there to leave any of those games without a point. Give me 3-0-1 and let’s see the boys head into the playoffs hotter than the first bite of a hot pocket fresh out of the oven.