Claude Giroux ends 13-year drought with Game 3 goal vs. Maple Leafs
04/24/2025 10:36 PM
The Ottawa Senators returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2017 when they qualified for a first-round matchup against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs. It didn’t go as planned over their first two games, as the Maple Leafs took a 2-0 series lead. However, Claude Giroux used the Senators’ momentum from their first home game to open the scoring in Game 3.
It broke a 13-year goalless drought in the playoffs for Giroux, who last scored in Game 1 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Final for the Philadelphia Flyers. The Senators needed Giroux to perform better to get themselves back in the series, and he lived up to his end of the bargain. However, the victory wasn’t meant to be for Ottawa, as Simon Benoit scored an overtime winner later in the game to give the Leafs a 3-0 series lead.
The Senators have nothing to hang their heads about going into Game 4. It has been two heartbreaking overtime losses in a row, which tells them they were two bounces in the right direction away from a 2-1 lead instead of a 3-0 deficit. The only thing they can hope for now is that the Maple Leafs feel the pressure of closing out the series and find a way to lose a couple of games.
Feel-good story for Claude Giroux and the Senators
Giroux moved to Ottawa to further his hockey career when he was 14, which eventually proved to be a great move when he made the National Hockey League. After a lengthy stint with the Flyers, Giroux looked for a fresh start and went to the Florida Panthers at the 2022 trade deadline. It didn’t work out in Florida, so he signed with his adopted home and joined an up-and-coming Senators squad.
The playoff debut didn’t happen as quickly as Giroux hoped when he signed, but he finally got a taste of postseason hockey at the Canadian Tire Centre in his third season with the team. It was only fitting that Giroux was the one to score the first home goal after putting his trust in the organization during the 2022 offseason. It’ll now take another great story for Giroux to advance to the second round.
The good news for the young Senators is that this series will act as a lesson moving forward. It might not work out this season, but Ottawa should get excited about the team’s future.
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