Leighton steps in, makes Flyers history
Written by on May 11th, 2010 in Latest News.
The tale: Michael Leighton gets hurt on March 16 in Nashville and Brian Boucher comes off the bench to replace him. Leighton doesn’t play again.
Until Game 5 on Monday, on the very day Leighton is activated for the first time in the playoffs. Boucher injures both knees, severely spraining his left knee, and Leighton, who hasn’t faced a shot in nearly two months, comes on to establish history: together, they become the first goalie tandem in Flyers history to record a shared shutout as their team routs Boston 4-0 to force a Game 6 back in Philly.
Did we mention the only other combined shutout in playoff history was March 22, 1955 in a game between Montreal and Boston? Jacques Plante and Charlie Hodge. 2-0, Les Canadiens.
“I didn’t want to lose confidence [from] the team,” Leighton said. “So I just made one or two routine stops early when I went in and the team played well after that.
“It’s been a roller coaster year for the goalies and we’ve all done a excellent job playing net. It’s just unfortunate. You can go a whole year without seeing a goalie injured and there’s been a lot this year so we’ve seen a lot of guys in the lineup and we’ve all played pretty well so we’re pleased with that.”
The series is still 3-2 in Boston’s favor but the Flyers feel the tide has turned their way.
“As long as we play well and we’re confident in the way we can play, we’re a excellent team and we’ve shown that,” Leighton said. “Throughout the season we’ve won the games we’ve needed to win, we’ve beaten some excellent teams … So confidence shouldn’t be a problem because we know we can play with those teams.”
The Bruins’ take
Mark Recchi has seen things like this in the playoffs before. And he’s won a couple of Stanley Cups in Pittsburgh and Carolina. He knows pressure. He knows desperation.
And he knows when his Bruins aren’t responding the right way.
“Not enough desperation,” Recchi of Boston’s play in Game 5. “They wanted it more than we did and it showed. We’ll have to go there and be desperate now. It’s starting to get to crunch time and we’ve let them back in the series and now we have to get desperate.”
Overcoming adversity
It’s been a recurring theme for the Flyers the entire season.
Not just losing three NHL goalies, plus their No. 1 guy in the minors, but injuries galore at the worst possible times, falling apart after the Olympic break, scrambling down the stretch, then needing overtime in Game 82 against the Rangers just to qualify for the playoffs.
“We seem to place ourselves in enough of these situations,” Philly defenceman Chris Pronger said. “When you place yourself in that position a lot, you test yourself and start figuring out what you’re made of.”
Flyers coach Peter Laviolette agreed.
“I gotta give credit to the players. Ultimately, when you’re thrown lemons to make lemonade, it’s the players who have to go out on the ice and perform,” he said.
“It seems like we’ve done it a lot this year … Maybe we’re conditioned to it. They are a resilient group. They won’t stop playing.”
Injury report
Boucher has two terrible knees, with the left one severely sprained. Claude Giroux took a shot to the shoulder blades-neck area on a boarding call from Steve Start and was held out of the third period as a precaution, according to Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren.
The Hartnell Monster
It’s alive! Scott Hartnell, who came into the game with just three goals in his last 45 games, scored the Flyers’ second goal. He was physical and skating.
“I’ve been obviously thinking about [not scoring], and it hasn’t been the year that obviously I dreamed of, but we are in the second round here, and we have a lot of momentum on our side, going back to our home barn,” he said.
“If we get that one, then it can happen in Game 7. So it is an exciting time for us. Guys are feeling loose, guys are feeling excellent.”
Hartnell was on the best line of the night with Danny Briere and Ville Leino.
“I thought Hartsy really played his game tonight,” Briere said. “He was in front of the net, he was scrapping and skating and Ville took a huge step holding onto pucks and making plays,” Briere said. “I thought my two wingers were fantastic.”
Not enough shots
The Bruins’ six defencemen had just two shots between them.
“Well, they’re certainly getting on our D quickly,” said Boston coach Claude Julien. “I reckon they’re respecting the fact that we got some quality shots there early in the series and they’ve taken that away from us.
“So obviously that’s something we’re going to have to look at and try and figure out a way to get some shots through. Again tonight, the shots were certainly down from previous games and a lot of that was probably our lack of competitiveness. I thought we lost battles and they were the hungrier team tonight. When that happens, you get those kinds of results.”
