Flyers’ Boucher turns his Boos to boos in a hurry
Boucher/By S. Bradley
PHILADELPHIA — The best news to come out of the Bruins’ 7-3 win in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Flyers today might’ve come out of the postgame interview period.
After he was pulled for giving up five goals on 23 shots through the second period at the Wells Fargo Center, and was booed off the ice, Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher said he expects to get the start in Game 2 Monday.
“I do [expect to start Game 2]. It wasn’t a good afternoon all around for all of us,” he said. “We didn’t get any breaks and we certainly didn’t play all that well. At the same time, I don’t see the need for a change but we’ll see what happens.”
The Flyers might actually have no choice but to go back to Boucher. After all, rookie Sergei Bobrovsky did nothing to impress while allowing two goals on 10 shots over the 22:46 he was on the ice. He posted a 3.38 goals-against average and .875 save percentage in the first round.
Philadelphia head coach Peter Laviolette didn’t sound like a man who changed goaltenders mid-game — for the fourth time in eight playoff contests — because he was blaming his netminder.
“Certainly you don’t want to do that, but tonight I think that just based on the way we played in front of our goaltender, we as a team deserve all of the responsibility as far as that goes,” he said. “But, it certainly is not where you want to be.”
So, there’s the possibility the Bruins could see Boucher again when they take the ice for Game 2. Then it would be up to the Philly fans to decide whether to boo him or give him the usual “Boo” chant to pump him up.
The Bruins would certainly gain a boost in their confidence if given another opportunity to fire pucks at the veteran.
But Boucher, to his credit, took the blame and looked forward to brighter days ahead.
“I don’t think any of us played particularly well,” he said. “There were some plays where I was able to make the first save but not able to make the second one. I’d have to look at the video to see if I could’ve done anything about some of those rebounds. Sometimes it’s just the way it goes. Not to lay blame on anybody. As a goaltender I’m responsible for stopping the puck and when they get by me I take responsibility.
“So I’ll look at the video and see where we go from there. But it’s one game. I don’t think it’s anything to get too frustrated over from a team standpoint. It wasn’t our best effort and that’s just the way it goes.”
remember in the offseason when the flyers were kicking the tires on timmah?
He’s not a premier goalie. He’s a backup. Light him up next game too.
Oh I agree that match ups were pretty poor. At one point the Flyers tried to tweak them in game (think they send Richards out against Krejci’s line and Julien immediately had the Bergeron line believe-althougth either way it was a different line head out at the earliest opportunity). I think Lavi is a good coach and generally is able to pick apart the weaknesses in a series and I expect him to tweak his match ups by Monday and use his home ice advantage.
Although I actually think their forwards are a definitely scoring threat I think our forwards are better defensively on all four lines-I am not sure the Flyers are going to be able to get the match ups they want to keep the Bruins from scoring-especially with their goal tending problems.
I am mostly worried about the targeting of Krejci. The slashes and the hit from behind make me think the Flyers are going to do what it takes to shut down Krejci even if it crosses the line and honestly as abysmal as our power play is-they probably think it is worth the risk of a penalty to give him a good wack on the arm or legs.
TCL, I agree the flyers D-men played poorly in front of Boucher but he also caused his own problems. Laviolette, Mullen and Berube lost their composure, behind the bench, on the B’s goals 3&4. Their line match ups were awful on the FO’s leading to those goals…and for most of the game.
I agree that this one wasn’t solely on Boucher…but at the same time, a couple of those pucks hit him and went in anyway. From the Flyers’ standpoint, he really needs to have some of those to keep it tight.
Honestly I don’t think it was all goaltending. The Flyers let the B’s camp out behind the net and in front of the net and blow by their defense. I can’t help but think they are going to try to tweak those holes before Monday and make sure the B’s have to fight a little harder to get into those places.
But goal tending today did make a difference. Thomas shut the door and made an awesome save multiple times-I don’t think either Flyer’s goalie really made that awesome save where the shooter felt robbed.