Sam Donnellon: Flyers, Boucher looking to rewrite history vs. Devils
THE GAME was a mess now, the Flyers ahead by too many goals, the caution of too much physicality thrown into this improbable wind. Brian Boucher had time to think.
THE GAME was a mess now, the Flyers ahead by too many goals, the caution of too much physicality thrown into this improbable wind. It was the waning minutes of the third period last night, the home team had more than enough goals to push the Devils to the brink of elimination, and the stoppages were coming one after another.
Brian Boucher had time to think. About 10 years ago. About what is now an obvious parallel.
"I mean it's hard not to think about it now," he said after the Flyers took a 3-1 Eastern Conference quarterfinal lead with a 4-1 victory over New Jersey. "Hopefully the script is written differently."
Ten years ago Brian Boucher was playing dead solid perfect and Martin Brodeur was not. Ten years ago he was one game away from being the goalie for the team that advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, maybe one game away from being a really, really great story, the way he is right now.
Some guys were all smiles after the game last night. Dan Carcillo wore that gap-toothed grin again after scoring a big third goal and creating havoc all over the ice. Jeff Carter seemed relieved to be in the box score again with a couple of goals and Danny Briere, with his first three points, was talking about how good it felt out there, how he knew it was just a matter of time.
Now 33, Boucher is no rookie. The playoff beard is salt-and-pepper, the comments measured, wizened by his long and unlikely journey back to this odd parallel. Brodeur is now 37, but anyone who thinks his advanced age is at the root of New Jersey's disadvantage in this series must have been in the bathroom last night when he gloved Simon Gagne's shot from the slot while laying on his back.
"If there's one thing I know it's that the series is not over until it's over," said Boucher. "You've got a world class goalie over there, maybe the best we've ever seen. He's capable of stealing games."
And yet the Flyers have beaten him this series in a game in which they mustered just 14 shots, and they beat him last night despite parading into the penalty box as if it was a Tim Hortons. They beat him on a night in which he made the save of the series, a night in which he batted a shot out of midair and made 24 saves himself.
Boucher? He stopped 30 of the 31 pucks he faced. He stood his ground, made the first save, got help from his shot-blocking defense from there. He stopped Zach Parise alone in front in the first period. He turned away Brian Rolston another time after a dangerous turnover.
The Flyers were shorthanded for more than 5 minutes in a row in the first period, including a two-man disadvantage. Boucher allowed his only goal then, but only after denying Ilya Kovalchuk on two straight point-blank shots, only after one of his three penalty killers got pinned under a pile in the corner.
It would be an eerier parallel, except that Scott Stevens is a Devils coach and Ken Daneyko is a broadcaster. The current Devils blue line neither intimidates or handles the puck with much aplomb, and consequently has repeatedly squirted out scoring opportunities when checked behind their own net.
Brodeur has been good, not great. If there's any eeriness, that's it. Because it was like this 10 years ago, and then it all turned so upside down. The Flyers played a lethargic game to lose Game 5, lost a tight one in Game 6, then saw their chance evaporate when Patrik Elias scored on Boucher in the final minutes of a Game 7 that featured Scott Stevens' famous hit on Eric Lindros.
The Devils became, officially, the boogeyman in these parts.
For much of the next 10 years.
"You can learn from experiences like that, good and bad," Boucher said.
What did he learn?
To play moment to moment, he said. To savor it all.
To enjoy it.
"It's a fun time of the year to play," he said. "I don't know if you really feel pressure. If you just get in the moment and pull together as a group it's a fun time to play. The story lines can create pressure but I don't think as a group we're reading that."
It's a cliché, he said, but it's all about Game 5 now. The Flyers have played hard for four straight games, played maybe their best consecutive string of games in a few months. Brian Boucher has been a big part of that. He has surprised us again, 10 years later. And maybe, just maybe, the script will be different this time.
"I went through a learning experience back then and it stung," Boucher said. "And I certainly don't want to go through that again."
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