In Game 1, Boucher Out-Duels Best Ever

NEWARK, N.J. – For one night, Brian Boucher was better than Martin Brodeur. When you're dealing with the psyche of a goaltender who was a third-stringer for parts of this season, don't underestimate what one win can mean in a seven-game series.

"It's nice to see that Bouche has his confidence back," said Flyers captain Mike Richards.

In the Flyers' 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, Boucher made the saves early on that every underdog needs. Best of the lot was a reflex glove grab on an Ilya Kovalchuk wrister from between the circles just under eight minutes into the game. "You're not going to get those all of the time," said Boucher. If the blistering shot gets by the goalie, the Devils open the scoring, Kovalchuk has the breakout performance he needs in this playoff, the home crowd goes wild and the stingy Devils can crack down even more on defense in the final two periods.

Instead, Kovalchuk shook his head and Boucher shook off the perception that the goaltending matchup in this rivalry was lopsided in favor of the future Hall of Famer.

Thanks to Boucher, the Flyers survived a bad first period.

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"We needed a wake-up call," said defenseman Chris Pronger. "That's not the way we wanted to start the game. We were turning over the puck way too much. Bouche came through for us and made a couple of point-blankers."

"I felt pretty calm out there. We've been playing playoff hockey the last two weeks. This felt like just another game."
-- Brian Boucher Summed up Flyers head coach Peter Laviolette, "Our goaltender gave us an opportunity to win that game." Besides the first, Boucher stood tall and flopped effectively during a four-minute penalty kill early in the third period when Oskars Bartulis was called for high-sticking.

The 33-year-old Boucher had started 21 playoff games in his NHL career, but only one in the last 10 years. The 37-year-old Brodeur, the owner of three Stanley Cup rings, has now started 177 postseason games. Of course, this is a mismatch -- everywhere except on the ice on April 14, 2010.

Boucher was signed soon after the opening bell of the unrestricted free agency period in July as a backup to Ray Emery. When Emery was sidelined by a serious hip injury, the Flyers acquired Michael Leighton on re-waivers from Carolina in mid-December. By the end of the calendar year, Leighton had won the confidence of Laviolette enough to earn the start for the NHL Winter Classic. The game was played at Fenway Park, in the backyard of Boucher -- a native of Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Fast-forward four months, and Boucher is besting Henrik Lundqvist in a playoff-clinching season finale and out-playing one of the best ever in Game 1. "You get a lot of starts like Bouche now has and you get into a rhythm," said Pronger. "He's not fighting the puck. He's sucking it in, not allowing any rebounds." Added Laviolette: "I don't think anyone signs in this league to be a backup goalie. He patiently waited, and sometimes didn't wait patiently, for the chance. Life's about opportunities."

Boucher was as poised in his post-game press conference as he was throughout his 23-save performance. "I felt pretty calm out there," he said. "We've been playing playoff hockey the last two weeks. This felt like just another game."

When it was over, Flyers owner Ed Snider was moved to come down to the locker room and roar "Boooooooooooche" upon seeing his winning goaltender.

You can easily argue that the Flyers were not the better team for most of the game's 60 minutes, getting only 14 shots on Brodeur compared to 24 for the Devils. But this is playoff hockey. Sometimes having the better goalie is enough. For Boucher, just one win could be enough to convince his team -- and himself -- that he belongs on the ice across from Brodeur.

"I'm so happy for Bouche," said Flyers veteran forward Ian Laperriere. "We're going to help him prove everybody wrong."

Notes: Chris Pronger opened the scoring at 9:25 of the second period with a backhand past Brodeur while in the middle of a goalmouth scramble on the power play. In the other end, Pronger is the one charged with clearing the crease. This time, on the offensive end, no one moved him. "I've made that play a few times," said Pronger, before adding with a grin, "that's just the one time when it has worked." ...

Mike Richards made it 2-0 on a slapper with 3:33 left in the second off a backhand pass from Ian Laperriere. Said Laperriere, "If I don't make that play, you're probably not seeing my number 14 on the ice for a long time." ...

Travis Zajac's goal with 2:43 left in the game ended Boucher's shutout bid. ...

Devils coach Jacques Lemaire on his team's play: "I think we played a pretty good game. We had some chances that didn't go in. We limited them to a certain amount of chances. I guess we have to work a little more on the power play." New Jersey was 0-5 with the man advantage. ...

New Jersey scratches were RW Vladimir Zharkov (upper body injury), LW Andrew Peters (scratched eye), Ds Mark Fraser, Anssi Salmela and Mathew Corrente and LW Jay Pandolfo. Out of the Flyers lineup were LW Ville Leino (flu), LW Riley Cote, D Ryan Parent and No. 3 goaltender Jeremy Duchesne. ...

New Jersey veteran LW Brian Rolston said the matchup against the Flyers was as advertised. "Close-checking, everything we expected in this series," said Rolston. "They're a well-coached team. It's not like there are any surprises between us." ...

Flyers rookie LW James van Riemsdyk made his playoff debut in his home state of New Jersey. The second overall pick in the 2007 NHL draft, the 20-year-old is from Middletown, NJ. "I went to playoff games at the Meadowlands for years," said van Riemsdyk. "Feels like I've come full circle." ...

Laviolette on his team playing the underdog card: "Not a lot of people are picking the Flyers out there." ...

Fans arriving via train at Newark's Penn Station were greeted by Devils owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek, who handed out playoff t-shirts and encouraged fans to be part of a "Red Out" at the Provincial Center (pictured right). Said Vanderbeek, "Devils Army has to show that home ice will be the difference this year." The outreach efforts of Vanderbeek, new Senior VP of Business Operations Richard Krezwick and the Devils' staff worked. The arena, a sellout of 17,625 with the help of 2-3,000 Flyers fans, was loud and involved throughout. When the Devils opened their first round playoff series a year ago against Carolina, they only drew 11,000.