Claude Giroux

Flyers center Claude Giroux, looking like a teenager with his short haircut, sounded like a wily veteran after he was asked about possibly becoming the franchise's 19th captain. "It's a decision they have to think about. It's a big decision - but at the same time, it doesn't matter if you have a 'C' or 'A' or nothing on your jersey," he said Tuesday after joining 10 teammates for an informal practice in Voorhees. "If you lead by example on the ice or if you feel comfortable enough to speak in the room, I don't think you need a letter on your jersey to do that.

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - The door to the visitors locker room deep inside the Montreal Bell Centre remained closed a little longer than usual on Saturday night. Newly minted captain Claude Giroux didn't need long to deliver his message to teammates after the Flyers' unenergetic display against the Canadiens. "It wasn't very long," Danny Briere said. "But it was to the point. Everybody took it personally. That was the goal. " Words are one thing. Sometimes, though, the best message isn't spoken, but shown.

After starting the season with goals in each of his first two games, Flyers center Claude Giroux entered Saturday in one of the worst slumps of his young career. Six games. No goals. And whispers that the new captaincy role was weighing on him. The 25-year-old superstar appeared to be pressing. "I've talked to Claude. I think he cares a lot. I think he wants to be successful and he wants his team to be successful," coach Peter Laviolette said before Giroux broke out of his funk in Saturday's much-needed 5-3 win over Carolina.

THE DAY WAS May 9, 1974. Bobby Clarke had just scored two goals against the Boston Bruins in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals, including the game-winner in overtime. The Flyers had not won a game in Boston in 7 years and 19 attempts, and that moment is widely viewed as the turning point of a series that brought the Flyers their first Cup. That day, his coach, Fred Shero, said, "You know, Clarke is the best player in the league, not just from me . . . [The Russians think] Clarke, he's the best we have over here.

The Philadelphia Flyers hold "The Meeting" every spring, and this was the one in 2006. The team employs more than a dozen scouts, scattered in outposts around the globe. Their task is both simple and simply daunting: to identify kids who will grow up to look good in orange and black. In the weeks before the NHL draft, the scouts gather to assemble and sift through a list of these kids. Arguments are had. Voices are raised. It is the scouts' business, after all, and their passions are being tested, their reputations on the line.

"This year, he's really spread his wings. " — Flyers coach Peter Laviolette, on Claude Giroux Flyers center Claude Giroux has spread his wings, all right. Spread them from Anaheim to South Florida and all stops in between. One year after a breakout season in which he earned his first all-star spot, the 23-year-old Giroux is a legitimate MVP candidate. The award has been won by just two Flyers - Bobby Clarke (three times) and Eric Lindros in 1994-95. And with the Pittsburgh Penguins coming into the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday night, it's not a stretch to wonder if the game will match two of the NHL's best players: the incomparable Sidney Crosby and the fast-rising Giroux.

SUNRISE, Fla. - For the Flyers, there are lots of positives at the all-star break, which officially started with their hard-earned 3-2 shootout win over Florida on Tuesday night. Backup goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, who improved to 11-4-1, stopped all three shots in the shootout at the BankAtlantic Center. Bobrovsky made 23 saves in the game and could not be faulted on either goal, and he gave the Flyers their first win in four shootouts this season. "I don't think we had our best effort tonight, and he made some key saves - and obviously three big stops in the shootout," said Brayden Schenn, who scored the Flyers' first goal midway through the first period.

Flyers coach John Stevens tinkered with his lines over the weekend and, surprisingly, the most effective group turned out to be the one with the least experience. That's the line of Claude Giroux centering Scottie Upshall and Darroll Powe. Giroux, a converted winger, and Powe are rookies. Upshall, at 25, is the group's elder statesman. "They showed a lot of jump," Stevens said after yesterday's practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. In two weekend wins, the line combined for seven points and was plus-8.

If there's an indication what kind of factor 20-year-old winger Claude Giroux could be for the Flyers, it's how close he was to contributing last season. "Could he have made the team? Yeah, he probably could have," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said yesterday. "We thought this was the best thing to do, to send him back. And I think, in hindsight, that it was. " Giroux flourished in another season in juniors, scoring 106 points in 55 games for Gatineau. He played in the Memorial Cup, and he won a gold medal with Canada at the world juniors championship.

MONTREAL - For the offensively challenged Flyers, Operation Roadkill continued Saturday night. They managed just 19 shots and dropped a 4-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre, falling to 2-8 on the road this season. Afterward, captain Claude Giroux called out the team. "It's not acceptable the way we played tonight," he said. "It's not just two or three guys. It's the whole team. . . . We didn't show up. " Giroux said the Flyers aren't winning enough battles, aren't competing hard enough.