Claude Giroux on leaving: ‘I actually didn’t realize how tough it is.’ Flyers rally to beat Predators in his likely finale

Spurred by their desire to honor their captain in his 1,000th and likely final game with the team, the Flyers overcame a third-period slump to beat the Nashville Predators, 5-4, breaking a three-game losing streak.

With all the emotion before, during, and after the game, the clarity came when Claude Giroux all but said he has played his last game as a Flyer.

During his final presser, he spoke of how emotional the day had been and how much everything the team and the city did for him meant. And with his final comments, he confirmed that he will soon wear a different jersey.

“To be honest, I’ve seen a lot of players that I’ve played with that I’ve liked and I know it’s tough when you leave a team, but I actually didn’t realize how tough it is and I wish I knew back then,” Giroux said.

A Flyers source confirmed that Giroux was not on the team’s flight to Ottawa.

The team is well aware of the trade rumors that have been “swirling about” Giroux, Kevin Hayes said, and they’ve been impressed with how well he’s handled it. Knowing that his 1,000th game could be his last, they dug deep, wanting him to go out with a win.

“I was fortunate enough to play three years for him,” Hayes said. “If he does get moved, I think I’ll have a new team I’ll be rooting for.”

Interim coach Mike Yeo also implied that Giroux had waived his no-move clause when he explained why Giroux wasn’t on the ice when the Flyers were up in the final seconds.

“There would’ve been an interim to the interim coach if I would’ve put him out there and he would’ve blocked a shot at that moment,” Yeo said.

As for the game, with the excitement from Giroux’s milestone celebration still buzzing through the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers got off to a fast start. They flew to the puck and approached battles with an energy not seen yet this season. And when Zack MacEwen dropped the gloves seven minutes in, the place exploded. Seconds after he entered the penalty box, Travis Sanheim scored the first goal.

“Right from the get-go, you could tell that everybody wanted to make this a special night for him,” Yeo said.

The intermission killed the energy. It fizzled further when the Predators scored 24 seconds into the second period on a Tanner Jeannot goal. With one swing, Cam York brought the noise back. His power play goal gave them the lead just a minute later. Giroux’s longtime teammate James van Riemsdyk then scored one for his friend to give the Flyers a two-goal lead.

Giroux’s former teammate Philippe Meyers then scored, but for the other team. It was his first goal with the Predators. When Travis Konecny was called for a four-minute penalty, the Predators capitalized to tie the game when Ryan Johansen scored. Filip Forsberg broke the tie with a goal early in the third period.

After a Derick Brassard goal was called back because of a high stick, the Flyers put it right back on the board when Hayes scored during a 4-on-4. With the game on the line, the Flyers drew strength from their captain, and Joel Farabee scored the winning goal with 1:15 left.

“I think that was probably the coolest game I’ve ever been a part of,” Farabee said. “Just to play in a game or even to just be part of the team in a moment like that for a captain that’s played as long as he has, I think it’s a special moment and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

After their bout of fisticuffs, Michael McCarron and McEwen were the first two to warm the bench of the penalty box. However, they weren’t alone for long. Mattias Ekholm joined them, then Giroux. In all, there were 30 penalty minutes and eight power plays between the two teams.

While the special teams have been cause for concern in recent games, both the penalty kill and the power play improved.

The penalty kill clogged up shooting lanes, made saves, and cleared the puck. It killed two before giving up a goal during a 4-minute kill, but it went on to successfully kill the final two minutes. Meanwhile, the power play scored a goal — a rare occurrence this season — and created momentum on the ones that did not result in goals.

One, two, three, four — Sanheim, Giroux, and Konecny bombarded Predators goalie Juuse Saros with a flurry of shots to kick off the Flyers’ offense. After the sequence where Sanheim placed a shot on goal and Giroux and Konecny tried to knock it in, the rest of the Flyers picked up on their shot-first mentality.

The Flyers outshot the Predators, 17-11, in the first period and 11-8 in the second. In the third, they trailed 15-5 as their play dropped, but they still finished the game down one shot, 34-33.

Konecny and Atkinson, who have both been known as goal scorers in the past, and Sanheim, who has looked to return to his reputation as an offensive defenseman, led the way in shots.

Since the Flyers returned from the All-Star break, they’ve suffered more than their share of gut-wrenching losses. The worst came when they gave up leads in the third, something they’ve done four times. They’ve lost nine when tied going into the third.

Against the Predators, the Flyers had a two-goal lead halfway through the second period. By the end of the second, they’d given up the lead, and a long stretch of uninspiring play ensued.

“I think you saw a part of the period where they scored and then all of a sudden, we kind of went flat,” Yeo said. “I think some of that was the emotion that we put so much into it and we wanted it so bad. And all of a sudden, it’s like, man, how are we down all of a sudden here?”

But as the clock wound down, the Flyers demonstrated their captain’s characteristic will to win and started battling again. After one goal was called back, they quickly scored to make up for it and then carried that to the win.

“We kept on fighting,” Yeo said. “And I think that so much of that is a testament to what the guys think of G and the respect that they have for him.”

The Flyers head to Ottawa to play the Senators on Friday for the second half of a back-to-back. Puck drop is at 7 p.m.