Claude Giroux

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.

Flyers Notes A year ago, center Claude Giroux had a so-so regular season with the Flyers, and defenseman Andrej Meszaros managed just 17 points and was minus-14 with Tampa Bay. It would have been difficult to foresee what transpired this season. Before Saturday night's season finale against the Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center, both were honored as the Flyers' top players. Giroux won the Bobby Clarke Trophy as the team's MVP, and Meszaros won the Barry Ashbee Trophy as its best defenseman in a vote by sportswriters and broadcasters.

Hoping to awaken his team's sleepy offense, Flyers coach Peter Laviolette juggled his lines during practice Thursday in Voorhees, moving Danny Briere to the top unit to replace Matt Read. Briere, who said his injured wrist gets stronger each day, played left wing on a line with Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds. Giroux and Briere played together in Germany during the lockout, and they have been occasional linemates in the past with the Flyers. "We weren't generating as much as we'd like in New York," Laviolette said about Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

TOM SESTITO, the Flyers' Tuesday night hero who chipped in with his first NHL goals in more than two calendar years, joked in the locker room on Wednesday that he leads the league in two categories: shooting percentage and faceoff win percentage. He's riding a perfect 100 percent in both. But he's taken only two shots and one draw. A few stalls away, Claude Giroux also leads the NHL in a statistical category. It just might not be the one you would come to expect: total number of faceoffs taken (242)

Highly touted winger Claude Giroux, who the Flyers had hoped would be one of their key forwards this season, faces an uphill battle to earn a roster spot and, based on comments made by coach John Stevens yesterday, seems destined to start the year with the AHL Phantoms. "I think Claude has done just OK, to be honest with you," Stevens said after yesterday's practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees. "I think there was a lot of pressure on this kid coming in. " Expectations were high after Giroux scored an astounding 51 points - 17 goals, 34 assists - in 19 playoff games with his Quebec Junior League team last season.

RALEIGH, N.C. - For one afternoon, at least, NHL stood for the No Hitting League as the 58th All-Star Game showcased its best players at the RBC Center. With a loud, mostly red-clad crowd watching, defense was a rumor as Team Lidstrom, co-coached by the Flyers' Peter Laviolette, overcame an early four-goal deficit and outlasted Team Staal, 11-10. The Flyers' Danny Briere had two goals to aid the winners, while Claude Giroux, who played a game-low 13 minutes, 16 seconds on a team coached by Chicago's Joel Quenneville, had a goal and an assist in a losing cause.

With seven weeks left in the regular season, things are falling into place for the Flyers. Yes, general manager Paul Holmgren should still try to add a crease-clearing defenseman, but even if he can't make a deal before the trade deadline on March 4, the Flyers look every bit as good as the team that reached last year's final four. Indeed, they look better. There's more experience. More go-to players. More puck-moving defensemen. The pieces are starting to fit nicely.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Now that the All-Star Game is history, forwards Claude Giroux and Danny Briere are focused on putting the finishing touches on the Flyers' so-far-superb season. "We had a little meeting before we left, and I think it's important that our guys get some rest," said Giroux, who scored his first all-star goal and also contributed an assist in his team's 11-10 loss. "There's not one guy who's not excited about the rest of the season. . . . When you have that run, like last year, you just get more hungry.

If Danny Briere is emotional about possibly playing his last home game in a Flyers uniform, he isn't showing it. Because of his high cap hit - $6.5 million per year - the Flyers' 35-year-old forward is expected to be bought out or traded after the season. If that happens, that would make Thursday's game against the New York Islanders his finale at the Wells Fargo Center as a member of the Flyers. "I'm not thinking about that. . . . Things change fast in the hockey world," the always-classy Briere said after Wednesday's practice at the Skate Zone in Voorhees.