Brian Boucher is somewhat vindicated. Not only did he ratchet-up his game to prove that Ray Emery was a waste of money, he got his revenge on the Devils. Revenge? Ten years ago, Boucher was Philly’s current number one (in a string of many since Ron Hextall) as they went to the playoffs and I think they had a good shot at the Cup. Instead, the Devils rallied from being behind in the series to winning it, the Eastern Conference and finally the Stanley Cup. Boucher’s game never recovered the following season and eventually he lost the spot to Roman Cechmanek. Then Philly shipped him off to the Coyotes for Robert Esche and Michal (spelling?) Handzus. The trade went on to be the beginning of what appeared to be a mediocre career despite beating the long-standing, continuous shutout record Brodeur and Roy have never come close to achieving. Boucher got demoted to San Antonio, dumped on to Calgary, signed up with Chicago, sent to Columbus and inevitably returned to Philly’s AHL affiliate, the Phantoms, back to where he started. There was a stint with San Jose in which he did a great job filling in for Nabokov’s IR time. Sadly, the Sharks ditched him in favor of an untested German goalie so he returned to Philly for his third term backing up Terrell Owens on skates. Now he has come full circle. Good for him. It’s always awesome to see a nice fellow like him have a comeback.
I’m still stunned too. Beyond Boucher, I can’t believe this Flyers team succeeded against the number two seed in the playoffs and with two key forwards missing (Gagne and Carter). Most times I watched them this season, they were plagued with their usual problem…playing like the first period didn’t matter or as the cliche goes: for them, opening faceoff is at 8 PM, not 730 PM. Do I think they’ll make it to the Eastern Conference championship? Depends on who they get for the next round. Washington, Pittsburgh or someone else. If they can keep up the intensity used to dismiss the Devils, they have a shot. If they don’t, I expect to see Pronger, Briere and the boys on the golf course by early May.