Nick Piccone
Claude Giroux seemingly escaped any sort of serious injury after Joe Pavelski hit him hard along the boards during last night’s exhibition game before the official World Cup of Hockey tournament starts.
Despite how it looked, it didn’t seem that serious as Giroux found his way back on the ice. Giroux mentioned a week ago how he feels 100% and doesn’t feel like he has a 60-year-old hip anymore. He said after the game his hip didn’t take the brunt of the hit, and he seems to be right. It looked more like a low hit, perhaps a knee-to-knee with Pavelski.
The Flyers could ill afford to lose Giroux, much less most of the guys playing during this tournament. Gudas, who was set to play for the Czech Republic, won’t be playing in the tournament after suffering an injury to his wrist.
There was plenty of physical play between USA and Canada last night, including this hit from Ryan Kesler on Shea Weber. The teams play again tonight in Ottawa.