Bass Lands Brian Boucher

By Alan Bass

He leads the NHL with a 1.59 goals against average and a .940 save percentage. He is entering the semi-finals not having allowed an even strength goal in over 187 minutes, equal to more than two full games. And he holds the NHL record for a shutout streak.

Still, everyone makes a big deal about Brian Boucher beating Marty Brodeur, and the Flyers succeeding despite so-called “bad goaltending."

You think Boucher ever wants to remind people that he holds the NHL record for a shutout streak? That would be five games while Mr. Boucher was in Phoenix, traditional media.

“Well, I’ll leave it up to you to do that stuff,” Boucher says with a laugh. “For me, it’s just about what’s inside the locker room. What’s being said outside – we can’t really worry too much about what’s being said.”

Down the stretch, the Philadelphia Flyers have had numerous goaltending problems.

They had dressed seven goaltenders throughout the season: Ray Emery, Michael Leighton, Brian Boucher, Johan Backlund, Steve Duschene, Carter Hutton and Sebastien Caron.

With the Flyers’ top-three goalies out, Boucher was thrown in, with a collective sigh coming from the city of Philadelphia.

Known for their “brotherly love,” Philly was none too loving towards Boucher as he took the reigns in net. But, after squeaking into the playoffs in a shootout on the last day of the season, Boucher gave Flyers’ fans some hope.

Then, he played superhumanly, defeating Martin Brodeur – arguably the best goaltender in NHL history – in five games, sending his team to the Eastern Conference Semi-finals.

The shutout streak machine, even shutout the Devils at the Prudential Center, to clinch the series for the Orange and Black.

“I think we really believed in ourselves down the stretch, we got in and we felt really good about ourselves in the first round. Obviously we played well and we got that series,” says Boucher.

“We’re only focused on ourselves and what we as teammates need to be worried about with each other.”

If that focus continues against the Bruins, you can expect the Flyers to have a date with destiny in Round 3.