Giroux Picked for NHL All-Star Game as Flyers Welcome Back Five Players to Special Teams

The NHL announced its 2022 All-Star rosters on Thursday night, and Flyers captain Claude Giroux will be the team's only representative on the Metropolitan Division squad. The event takes place Feb. 4-5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Giroux, 34, earned his seventh All-Star nod, his first since 2019. He leads Philadelphia with 29 points and has 11 goals, second on the club, through 32 games. He sits second in franchise history with 887 career points and came back from COVID-19 protocols on Tuesday.

The weekend opens with a Skills Competition on Feb. 4, followed on Feb. 5 by a single-elimination 3-on-3 tournament among the Atlantic, Metropolitan, Central and Pacific divisions. Each division will field 11 players, with every team represented. Ten players per division were revealed Thursday, and fans can vote on the final spot through Jan. 17. Each of the 32 teams nominated a player for one of the last four places, and winger Cam Atkinson is the Flyers' choice.

On the ice, Philadelphia is trying to repair its special teams after a five-game losing streak that stretched from the end of 2021 into the new year. Interim coach Mike Yeo pointed to the units as a key factor. The Flyers' power play has converted on just two of 14 chances, or 14%, while their penalty kill has allowed four goals on 14 opponent opportunities, a 28% rate. They have also surrendered two shorthanded goals, leaving the special teams outscored 6-2.

Absences have hurt both units. Tuesday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes was postponed amid the outbreak. Since a Saturday loss to the San Jose Sharks, the players who were out have returned from protocols, with Rasmus Ristolainen the lone player to enter them. Giroux, Travis Konecny and Ivan Provorov are back on the power play. Provorov and Giroux also kill penalties, as do Travis Sanheim and Justin Braun. "Obviously those guys are impact players, playing against top players," Yeo said.

Forward Scott Laughton, who returned from protocols Jan. 1, welcomed the added bodies, especially with penalty killer Patrick Brown now injured. He singled out Giroux's faceoff work, calling him "the best face-off guy in the league." Braun said the penalty kill should keep its confidence and concentrate on clearing the puck, noting that recent "flubs" have been punished. Still unavailable are Brown, Sean Couturier, Derick Brassard and Ryan Ellis. "It's still going to be a challenge," Yeo said, though he added the team feels much better than it did a week earlier.

The Flyers face the Boston Bruins at TD Garden at 7 p.m. Thursday, with Carter Hart in goal. The Bruins played Wednesday, beating Montreal 5-1 in a chippy game, and have won six of their last seven. Laughton said teams on the second night of a back-to-back tend to start hard, so Philadelphia must handle the first 10 minutes and "not weather the storm."

To take the season series, currently tied 1-1, the Flyers must first stay out of the penalty box, Laughton said, and shut down Boston's top two lines. Braun cautioned that the Bruins "feed on turnovers," so the Flyers need to protect the puck and make Boston's defense turn.

Laughton also joined teammates in calling for changes to COVID-19 protocols, and said the league should make an exception for streaks interrupted by them, such as Provorov's Iron Man streak, which ended recently at 403 games. Couturier attended morning skate but is no closer to returning, Yeo said, as the team wanted to keep him involved.