Flyers’ Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek want a Stanley Cup, not personal accolades

LAS VEGAS – Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek are coming off career seasons that will be difficult to duplicate.

They don't care.

All they care about is helping the Flyers finish high in the Metropolitan Division standings and ending the team's long drought without a series win in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Giroux finished second in the NHL last season with 102 points, while Voracek was 13th with 85 points. No matter. The Flyers exited in the first round of the playoffs, as the two combined for one goal, five assists, and a minus-13 rating against the Penguins.

"You want to do good in the playoffs, and we didn't do that last year," Voracek said, referring to the team, before the Flyers opened their season against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday night.

He said his regular-season point total means little.

"If I end up [with] 65 points, and we end up in the second, third round and have a shot at the Cup, I'd rather [have that]," he said.

Giroux also brushed aside his sensational 2017-18 season.

"The end goal is to win the Stanley Cup, and it doesn't matter what you do in the regular season," he said.

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Giroux's 102-point season followed a year in which he was slow to recover from core-muscle surgery and managed just 58 points. There were whispers that his career was on a downward spiral.

"Last year, I was very excited to kind of prove people wrong and show what kind of player I am and how I can help the Flyers be a better team," he said. "Now, it's just [trying] to keep that momentum going."

Giroux, whose team hasn't won a playoff series since 2012, said he had not considered how difficult it would be to match last season's point total.

"One of the reasons we were so successful last year was because our line was clicking, and when that happens, your job becomes so much easier."

On Thursday, Giroux joined Bobby Clarke as the only players in Flyers history to serve as captain for seven or more seasons. He was on a line with center Sean Couturier and right winger Travis Konecny.

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In the preseason, a knee injury caused Couturier to miss seven of the eight games. But he said he was 100 percent heading into the season and had no limitations, "or I wouldn't be here this early in the season."

The speedy Konecny flourished when he was with Couturier and Giroux last season. He had 20 goals in 41 games with that line, and just four goals in 40 games on different lines.

"He gave us energy," Giroux said.

Goalie Calvin Pickard, claimed on waivers from Toronto on Tuesday, was working through visa issues and had not joined the Flyers. GM Ron Hextall was hoping he can join the team in Denver, where the Flyers will face the Avalanche on Saturday night. … The Flyers entered Thursday with a 23-19-8 record in openers, including an 8-8-5 mark on the road. … Rookie Mikhail "Misha" Vorobyev became the third player from the Flyers' 2015 draft class to play for the club, joining Konecny and Ivan Provorov, each of whom were first-round selections. Vorobyev was picked in the fourth round. … Giroux went into the season opener needing one assist to pass Bill Barber for third place in franchise history. … The Gritty mascot that appeared Wednesday on Conan O'Brien's late-night talk show was an impostor, the Flyers said.    … Thursday marked the fifth time in the last eight years that the Flyers faced a team raising a conference or Stanley Cup banner. … Sign outside a Vegas bar: WHY DO THE FLYERS DRINK OUT OF SAUCERS (?) NO CUP IN 40 YEARS. Actually, it was 43 years ago, in 1975.