Text from Mike Richards responsible for breaking Claude Giroux’s scoring slump?
Claude Giroux’s scoring troubles were well documented at the beginning of the season. He didn’t have a single point in his first five contests, and it took him 15 games to score his first goal of the 2013-14 campaign. Giroux has turned it around recently, and the quips on pronouncing his name “zero” seemed to have mercifully come to an end on Twitter.
The captain of the Philadelphia Flyers has five points in his last five games, and the team is finally starting to turn a corner after a horrendous start that saw coach Peter Laviolette fired just three contests into the season. Giroux was visibly frustrated during games, and was clearly taking the losing streak personally.
Dan Rosen of NHL.com spoke to the electric forward recently, and Giroux revealed that current L.A. King and former-Flyer Mike Richards sent him a text during the darker days of October and encouraged him. Giroux had this to say about the message:
"It wasn’t going right, and I got a nice text from Mike Richards. … I think he gave me a boost to relax and play the game… It’s easy for people to be like, ‘Just go and score a goal. To hear it [from Richards], it kind of made me just relax and think about how I’m lucky enough to play this game for a living. I’m in one of the great organizations and we have fans that cheer their heart out. Just looking at the position I’m in now, I feel really lucky, and it just makes me more motivated to play better."
This is only the most recent example of a player reaching across enemy lines to encourage a member of a different team. Sidney Crosby sent a message to Steven Stamkos after he injured his leg earlier this month, and it’s just another outstanding reminder of how great of a community and brotherhood the NHL is most of the time.
With all of the attention that guys like John Scott have been getting lately for not respecting his fellow player, this is another reminder that 99% of the guys in the league have each other’s best intentions in mind.