Claude Giroux is undoubtedly one of the greatest players to ever put on a Philadelphia Flyers sweater, and he’ll hit a pretty impressive milestone Thursday night when he becomes just the second player in franchise history to appear in 1,000 games. His 1,000th game could also end up being his last game as a Flyer. With the trade deadline approaching and the Flyers’ season basically lost, it’s expected that Giroux will be moved to a contending team before the clock strikes 3 p.m. ET on Monday.
If Thursday night really is the end of the road for Giroux in Philadelphia, he’s given fans a whole lot to cheer about over the years. From clutch goals to mind-blowing feeds, he’ll go down as a legend in Philadelphia sports history forever.
Without further ado, here are the top 10 plays of Claude Giroux’s career (so far).
Fake between-the-legs goal against Bruins
Giroux’s pulled off plenty of filthy moves throughout his career, but this one particularly stands out.
With less than 90 seconds remaining in overtime against the Boston Bruins, Jakub Voracek sprung Giroux for a breakaway, and he completely fooled Anton Khudobin with a fake between-the-legs move and a filthy backhander to give the Flyers the 4-3 victory.
It should be noted that Vegas Golden Knights forward William Karlsson pulled off a between-the-legs goal not even 24 hours prior that set the hockey world ablaze, which makes Giroux’s fake that much more amusing.
Undressing Lundqvist in shootout
Giroux has no shortage of fancy moves in his bag of tricks for shootouts, and New York Rangers great Henrik Lundqvist learned that the hard way back in 2015.
Lundqvist, one of the top goalies of the modern era, was no match for Giroux’s sick puck skills. Giroux left Lundqvist completely stunned after roofing a backhander to give the Flyers a 2-0 lead in the shootout, eventually leading to a 3-2 Flyers victory.
Hat trick, 100 points against Rangers
Believe it or not, Giroux had never logged a single regular-season hat trick in his career until the Flyers’ final game of the 2017-18 season against the Rangers. And not only did he get his first regular-season hat trick, but in the process he also passed the 100-point mark for the first time in his career.
The Flyers needed to take down the Rangers that day in order to earn a playoff spot, and Giroux put together one of the best performances of his career to make it happen.
Filthy shootout goal on Jonas Gustavsson
Pavel Datsyuk is known as the “Magic Man” for a reason. His puck skills were unmatched during his NHL playing days, and few could pull off the moves he was able to throughout his historic career.
However, Giroux did just that in a shootout against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2012.
Giroux skated in on Jonas Gustavsson with speed and pulled off the “Datsyuk” move, putting the puck on a string and easily lifting it over Gustavsson’s pad to help cement a 1-0 win in Toronto. Just an insane level of skill.
Stadium Series OT winner
What a night this was. Going into their Stadium Series tilt against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Flyers had never won an outdoor game, and after falling behind 3-1 to the Pens, it appeared they were on track to stay winless without the roof over their heads.
Thanks to a late pair of goals, though, the Flyers forced overtime, and Giroux netted the game-winner at Lincoln Financial Field to lift his squad over their cross-state rival.
Disgusting pass off skate for Couturier goal
Giroux has scored a ton of clutch goals over the years, but it’s his passing that’s made him one of the top players in the NHL since he entered the league.
Against the New Jersey Devils just last season, Giroux pulled off one of the prettiest passes you’ll ever see in your life — and he didn’t even need his stick to do it.
Travis Konecny tossed a centering pass to Giroux, who then used his skate to redirect the Konecny feed to Sean Couturier for an easy score. The goal tied the game at two scores apiece, and the Flyers went on to earn the 4-2 victory.
OT winner in Game 3 against Chicago
With the Flyers down 2-0 in their series against the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2010 Stanley Cup Final, they desperately needed a win in Game 3 to shift the momentum of the series in their favor.
Of course, it was Giroux who delivered the overtime winner in Game 3 to earn them the much-needed victory.
Six minutes into overtime, Giroux redirected a Matt Carle point shot past Antti Niemi to cut Chicago’s series lead in half. The Flyers then went on to tie the series in Game 4 with a big 5-3 victory at Wachovia Center. Giroux also scored in that game to give the Flyers a 3-1 lead late in the game’s first period.
Oddly enough, that series never continued beyond Game 4. The Stanley Cup was not awarded that year and no one knows why. Very strange!
Stick lift, goal against Tampa
Sometimes Giroux does things that can just turn one’s brain to sludge. Against the Tampa Bay Lightning back in 2018, he had one of those moments.
Giroux sliced through the Tampa Bay zone, and while sliding the puck between his legs, he lifted the stick of Ryan McDonagh, regathered the puck, cut toward the net and slid it past Andrei Vasilevskiy to tie the game up at two goals apiece.
That’s Jedi mind trick stuff, folks.
No-look falling backhand game-winner against Columbus
Speaking of mind-blowing plays, this one’s about as good as any in recent memory.
With under two minutes remaining in regulation, Giroux scored an insane no-look, falling backhander to break the 4-4 tie and earn the Flyers a crucial 5-4 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. How Giroux managed to elevate the puck over Curtis McElhinney’s glove simply doesn’t make sense.
Note that Giroux also scored the game-tying goal just over two minutes prior to the game-winner. Needless to say, it was a pretty great night for the captain.
“The Shift” goal
This sequence is one of the best not only in recent Flyers history, but in Philadelphia sports history as a whole.
In 2012, the Flyers won the first three games of their playoff series against the Penguins — perhaps the most insane playoff series the NHL has seen in years — but couldn’t seem to close it out. The Pens won Game 4 and Game 5, and momentum was completely in their favor after making it a one-game series.
The Flyers needed to make a statement early on in Game 6, and Giroux answered the bell. Immediately after the game’s opening puck drop, Giroux demolished Sidney Crosby with an enormous hit in the neutral zone to set the tone. Then, just 32 seconds into the game, he beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a filthy wrister to give the Flyers the early lead. The Flyers ended up winning the game 5-1 and eliminated the Penguins in the first round.
Giroux was an animal the entire series against Pittsburgh, but that shift in Game 6 was simply monstrous.
