Even though he isn't on the Philadelphia Flyers anymore, Claude Giroux, with the help of his Ottawa Senators teammates, lent his former club a helping hand in their playoff race Saturday afternoon.
The last playoff spot is effectively down to the third place Metropolitan Division team, which will be either the Flyers, Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets, or New York Islanders.
The Islanders, with 91 points, were only 1 point behind the 92-point Flyers with the same amount of games played (79), but on Saturday, Giroux and Co. got the job done in sensational fashion.
Forward Ridly Greig (son of longtime Flyers scout Mark Greig) and defenseman Jake Sanderson (son of ex-Flyers forward Geoff Sanderson) tallied short-handed and power play goals, while Greig added an assist on the empty-net goal to seal a 3-0 defeat of the Islanders.
Giroux, 38, was the Senators' lead faceoff man, winning 10 of his 17 faceoff attempts (58.8%) and finishing second only to Greig (71.4%) in faceoff percentage on the night.
To make the playoffs and finish ahead of the Islanders, the Flyers need to only earn as many points as the Islanders, or more, in their final three games of the season.
With their win over the Islanders, the Senators effectively bought the Flyers a free loss which, if nothing else, makes the brutal 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night a wash.
If the Flyers can defeat the Winnipeg Jets in any fashion on Saturday night, they'll expand their lead over the Islanders to three points with an equal amount of games played.
The Blue Jackets, who are two points behind the Flyers with 79 games played, will face the scorching-hot Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
But, so long as the Flyers take care of business against the Jets, the result of that game won't matter.