Sergei Bobrovsky: From Playoff Starter To Sitting In The Press Box Without An Injury

After starting Game 1 and 2 of the Conference Quarterfinals, Sergei Bobrovsky will find himself in a new role for Game 3: sitting in the press box as Brian Boucher starts and Michael Leighton backs him up on the bench.

I said on Twitter and perhaps even in the live blog on Saturday that I would much prefer to have Boucher coming in off the bench to relieve Bob than Bob coming in off the bench to relieve Boucher. That being said, I would much rather have a toddler come off the bench to relieve Boucher than Michael freakin' Leighton, who is not very good at hockey.

As far as Laviolette' reasons for doing so: I do not know. Starting Brian Boucher in this game is not the worst decision he has ever made. Boucher and Bobrovsky have sort of been 1A and 1B all year. Bob started 52 games, Boucher started 29 games, and Leighton started 1 game against Los Angeles for shits and giggles. Much was made about the calming influence Boucher brought to the team once he came in for Bobrovsky in Game 2. That could be a part of it. Another part of it could be the following quotes from Bobrovsky gathered by Teemu H, the guy in charge for following Flyers prospects in Europe.

"Physically I'm feeling normal. Mentally... not really. But I'll get over it soon." - Bobrovsky on last game.

"Whatever the coach decides, so be it. I will accept any decision." - Bobrovsky on who starts Game 3.

"I let in 3 goals. It's my job to stop the puck. 3 goals on 7 shots. That's unacceptable. Thanks to the guys we won." - Bob on his game.

Maybe the benching has something to do with this. Maybe it does not. I have no problem with Boucher starting Game 3 of the playoffs tonight. He has performed fine for the Flyers all year. But should Boucher he falter, the last person I want to see between the pipes for the Flyers is Michael Leighton.

Michael Leighton Is Not Very Good At Hockey

(Originally posted as a fanpost at Broad Street Hockey)  

(Title inspired by the wonderful folks at The Good Phight)

Since the Flyers lost in a shootout to the Washington Capitals last night, there has been a lot of talk about how the Flyers goalies are "not good enough" and they need to call up current Phantoms goalie Michael Leighton because only god saves more than Michael Leighton and he is better than the two knuckleheads named the Flyers currently have in goal.  Does this sound about right to everyone?

Well, it is true that this is what a lot of people have been saying, but the claims they make that Leighton is the better goaltender are completely false and are frustratingly misinformed. Before we get into statistics, though, let me just say that anybody judging a goalie over a single game and a shootout is being completely absurd.  Shootouts are like spinning a roulette wheel.  In Game 82 against the Rangers, the Flyers got lucky and the roulette wheel came up an orange number.  Last night, the Flyers got unlucky and it came up a white number.  Also, why are people saying Brian Boucher "sucks at shootouts" and therefore the Flyers need to recall Michael Leighton for the playoffs because of it?  Stop me if I am stating the obvious, but there are no shootouts in the playoffs.  Okay, so the people who make that jump are probably in the minority of those screaming for Leighton, but still, people look at the past few games that Boosh and Bob played and all of a sudden believe Michael Leighton is a god who saves more than Bernie Parent.  Or whatever it is he and his five-hole are being called these days.

Let's take a look at even strength save percentages this year, shall we:  Why ESS%?  Because it is one of, if not the most informing stats about a goalkeeper that we have.  Goals against average is much too dependent on the play of other players on the ice, and save percentage factors in shots and goals given up while short-handed or on the power play, where the defense is set much differently than normal, in addition to being up or down a man.  All numbers taken and derived from data on NHL.com

Brian Boucher, career ESS%:  .911
Brian Boucher, since start of  2008-2009 season ESS%:  .918
Brian Boucher, 2010-2011 ESS%:  .921
Sergei Bobrovsky, 2010-2011 (also career) ESS%:  .921
Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky, combined 2010-2011 ESS%:  .921
Michael Leighton, career ESS%:  .908
Michael Leighton, since start of 2008-2009 season ESS%:  .908
Michael Leighton, 2009-2010 season with Flyers (because 1 game in 2010-2011 is insufficient to say anything):  .916

What does this say?  Well, it says what the title says, "Michael Leighton is not very good at hockey."  He is a career .908 ES% goalie who has not outperformed Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky by any stretch of the imagination.  If you go by career, numbers, Boucher is a better goalie than Leighton.  If you go since 2008, Boucher is a better goalie than Leighton.  If you go for the small sample sizes, Brian Boucher's most recent season with the Flyers is better than Michael Leighton's most recent season with the Flyers.  Boosh has admittedly played better than his career numbers the past 3 years, but look at Leighton.  His career ESS% is .908.  His ESS% since 2008 is .908.  But in the 2nd half of the 2009-2010 season he is at .916.  Whoa.  Holy playing way above your true talent level, Batman!  And even Leighton playing above his true talent level has not eclipsed the numbers that Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky have put up this year.  And while Brian Boucher has been playing above his career numbers as well, he has consistently been playing better than his career average the past three years, while Leighton's high numbers come in only a 5-month span.  The goalie with the consistently higher numbers over the past few years is always going to be a better gamble than the goalie who had decently high numbers for a five-month span.

Brian Boucher is not a great goaltender.  Sergei Bobrovsky is a rookie.  While none of the two can considered a slam dunk between the pipes, one thing is for certain: They are both certainly better and more capable of playing Flyers' goaltender in the playoffs than Michael freaking Leighton and his five hole, the ghost of which still haunts the Wells Fargo Center to this day.

For those that want to play around with data, I have Bob's, Boosh's and Leighton's, shots faced, shots saved, and ESS% numbers by year in this handy-dandy spreadsheet I made.

The Flyers Goalie Carousel Continues: The Return Of Boosh?

Goalies that have dressed for the Philadelphia Flyers this season:
Mike Emery
Brian Boucher
Michael Leighton
Johan Backlund
Jeremy Duchesne
Sebastion Caron
Michael Lee Teslak
Carter Hutton

For the Eastern Conference Finals, the starter was Michael Leighton while Backlund backed him up. This Stanley Cup Finals could see a different back-up goalie for the Philadelphia Flyers. It's the same guy who started the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Flyers: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! From CSN Philly

Goalie Brian Boucher practiced with his team again Friday, and is 99 percent certain he’ll back up Michael Leighton when the Flyers open up the Stanley Cup Final Saturday at the United Center.

“Today was another day,” he said. “Every day, it’s gotten stronger. I feel a lot more confident every time with my situation on the ice. I haven’t had any problems.”

Boucher sprained the MCLs in both of his knees in Game 5 against Boston. He still has a noticeable limp, but said he has felt more comfortable the more he has practiced, and that he would be ready to go for Game 1.

“He looks good,” Danny Briere said. “I think just like everybody else, he’s excited. He’s excited to be back on the ice. Just like Jeff (Carter) and Simon (Gagne) and Ian (Laperriere), he thought his season was over. But as we’re moving along, all these guys have the chance to keep playing now.

“Brian looks like himself. Just like the way he was before. So that’s very encouraging going into the Final. We have both guys, I don’t know their records – who has how many wins other than 12 that we have – but it’s got to be pretty close. We’re comfortable with both of them.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Something that will be interesting to see is how this affects Michael Leighton at all. Whereas Backlund got 40 minutes of NHL ice time during the season (and a little over a minute during this post-season) and was likely there only in case of an injury, Brian Boucher has been a proven commodity for the Flyers in goal this post-season, and maybe be more likely to be called upon if Leighton struggles. What will this do to Leighton, knowing that a plug could very well be pulled if he can't play well? Will he wilt under the pressure and force Boucher to finish up this playoff run that he started, or will Leighton rise to the occasion and thus go from being placed on waivers earlier this year to starting goalie in the Stanley Cup Finals who keeps his team in the game?

Only one thing is for sure: Tomorrow's Game 1 can't come soon enough! LET'S GO FLYERS! (CLAP-CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP)

Chris Pronger Knows The Flyers Goaltending Situation By Heart!

It appears as if Chris Pronger (and his elbows) are in a good mood this morning. When asked about the Flyers goaltending situation this morning, he broke it down so well that you would have to be a simpleton to not understand what was going on. Here are Chris Pronger's words via NHL.com

It might have taken him a while to figure it out, but Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger believes he has solved the goalie carousel in Philadelphia. In the process of offering his explanation, he also provided a good laugh.

"Well, I've never seen this type of situation where you have a starter and have another starter, then another," Pronger told the media Wednesday morning. "Then you go back to the other starter and go back to your third guy, who's now the second guy, who became your first guy, who was your cousins' brothers' sisters', friend."

Like we said, "Prongs" has finally figured it out!

See! And you thought all the random people the Flyers have been getting to play goaltender was just that, a bunch of random people. There is a method to the madness, I tell you, and the Flyers' very own Assistant Captain Elbows has figured it out!

Eddie Olczyk's "Tremendously Tremendous" Work As An Analyst Continues

We all remember Eddie Olczyk and his tremendously tremendous quote during the first game between USA and Canada in the Olympics. Well guess what, good ol' Edzo has struck again! The below video is a clip from the start of the overtime period where Brian Boucher makes a bunch of fantastic saves right in a row. Once you are finished jerking off to his dreamy greatness, listen to Eddie Olczyk's analysis at the end of the game. I'll give you a hint to some of the content: it's "tremendously tremendous!"



"Outstanding! Terrific goaltending! Tremendously tremendous by Brian Boucher!" - Eddie Olczyk.

What about fantastically fantastic? Or amazingly amazing? Regardless, Brian Boucher surely appreciates such tremendously tremendous words to describe his goaltending.

Brian Boucher Saves The Flyers Season For Now In One Heart Stopping Moment

In a post you never saw that I put up right as the McNabb deal was announced (thus I doubt you guys even knew I broke down the pros and cons of the possible teams the Flyers could face in the playoffs; scroll down and check it out), I put up a video of what still is the best save I have ever seen made by a Flyers goalie. This one may not be as legendary as the last one, but if that one is number one, then the save he made tonight was number 2. Check it our for yourself.



BOOOOOOOSH!!!!

Simply amazing. Thanks to that save, the Flyers held onto win and because the Rangers lost as well, the Flyers are just 2 earned points or Rangers relinquished points away from a playoff spot. Before it was said that even though Boucher had been let down by the Flyers' play both offensively and defensively, he never was able to be spectacular and steal a game. Tonight he stole a game.

Meet The 2 Newest Flyers: A Journeyman And One Extremely Familiar Face

The start of NHL free agency was yesterday and the Flyers made 2 signings and while none of them are earth-shattering, they are note worthy. So welcome to the Flyers none other than journeyman Ian Laperriere. CSN Philly has more on this signing.

Laperriere, who agreed to a three-year, $3.5 million contract, brings additional defensive-minded grit to the Flyers, something Holmgren wants emphasized now that Chris Pronger is around.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Laperriere, a 14-year veteran who played the past four seasons in Colorado, is a conscientious defensive winger and centerman who will throw down with anyone, rack up penalty minutes, kill penalties, and block shots with reckless abandonment.

“We’re still looking for offense,” Holmgren said. “… But the one area Ian Laperriere will add is he’s a role player who can lift a little of the burden off some of our guys in other roles, such as penalty killing and faceoffs. He’s a warrior type player. He’s very durable.”

He's not the only person that the Flyers signed, though. Please welcome back to the Flyers, none other than the winning goalie of the 3rd longest game in NHL history (and longest in the modern era), Brian Boucher! Once again, CSN PHilly...

Brian Boucher, one of the most popular, affable goaltenders to wear orange and black, has come home.

The Flyers signed the former San Jose Shark on Wednesday as free agency began. Boucher will back-up newcomer Ray Emery and earn $1.8 million over two years.

“I’m thrilled,” Boucher said. “I had a nice year in San Jose, but I’m happy to be back in Philly.”

Boucher, a 32-year-old native of Woonsocket, R.I., was a first-round pick by the Flyers in 1995 (22nd overall).

“He’s capable, he’s played a lot of NHL games, he has playoff experience,” said general manager Paul Holmgren. “And Brian is a guy who really wanted to come back here in the worst way.

“Even going back two years ago I think Brian is a lot better goalie now than when he left here. He’s more under control than he was [before here]. I thought he lost focus in the net a lot of times. He’s always been a real athletic goalie; very competitive.”

Boucher was Evgeni Nabokov’s backup last season in San Jose, posting a 12-6 record with a sterling 2.18 goals against average and .917 save percentage.

BOOSH!!!!!

That statement about Boosh being one of the most affable and popular goalies to be a Flyer is true and at the time during the 2000 playoff run, I thought that he was next in line of the Flyers goalie greats, coming after Bernie Parent, Pelle Lindbergh (it's a shame that he had to be taken away from this earth so early), and Ron Hextall. And while now he is just the back-up to Ray Emery, I can pretty much assure you that Flyers fans will (re)-embrace Boucher faster than they will embrace Emery.

I may have an occasional post here and there during the weekend if something major happens, but if not, have a nice weekend and I will see you all on Monday! Happy 4th of July to all of you and thanks for your continued patronage and support! And yes, I am aware that I am taking a break for a weekend and then after 5 days of being back, will be going on vacation.