Flyers' Giroux suspended for Game 5

Philadelphia All-Star forward Claude Giroux was suspended by the NHL yesterday for his check to the head of Devils center Dainius Zubrus in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Giroux will miss tonight's Game 5 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The Flyers, who lost, 4-2, on Sunday in Newark, trail the series 3-1.

Zubrus was not injured and returned to play. He said he was fine and will be ready for Game 5. Giroux said he "respects the decision and wants to move on."

Philadelphia's leading scorer in the postseason with eight goals and 17 points, Giroux spoke with league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan yesterday. Giroux said he is not a dirty player and had no intention of hitting Zubrus in the head.

Shanahan said the head was targeted.

"When you look at this shift in its entirety, including the violent chop of the stick coupled with the lateness of the hit, we feel this reckless picking of the head rises to the level of supplemental discipline," Shanahan said.

Giroux had never been fined or suspended in his four-year NHL career.

"I was trying to finish my hit and he kind of leaned in and I kind of hit him, my shoulder to his head," Giroux said before the punishment was announced. "My elbow was down. I didn't jump. I'm a pretty honest player. I'm not a dirty player."

Coyotes 2, Predators 1: Mike Smith stopped 32 shots in Game 5 as host Phoenix reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in 33 years as an NHL franchise. The Coyotes will face the Los Angeles Kings, the first No. 8 seed to knock off the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the same playoffs.

Derek Morris and Martin Hanzal scored and Smith nearly had an empty-net goal.

The Coyotes got some long-awaited good news before the game when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced the league had a tentative deal to sell the team to former San Jose Sharks CEO Greg Jamison.

-- AP