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Bernie Parent was the Flyers' goalie instructor when Ron Hextall, then an irreverent rookie, propelled the club to the 1987 Stanley Cup finals.
He observed Brian Boucher, more orthodox and respectful, make the same in a run to the Eastern Conference finals after the 1999-2000 season.
And, of course, he reigns as the top Flyer in large part because he completed the deal in 1974 and '75, bringing the Flyers their only two Cups.
Now, he's watching Martin Biron, who, in his first NHL postseason action, stymied top seed Montreal and cooled magma-hot Washington, with MVP candidate Alex Ovechkin.
"Biron is really playing well," said Parent.
Maybe it's just Biron's turn. It seems that, once a decade, a Flyers goaltender spurs them to postseason heights with play so empirically solid that the team operates on a higher level.
"When a goaltender's playing like this, the team knows that, if they make a mistake, the goalie's going to bail them out," Parent explained. "They take more chances, especially offensively."
Tonight, Biron and the Flyers are in Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference finals to take on Sid the Kid and his Crosby-ettes, chief among them, Marc-Andre Fleury, 23, in his second full NHL season, his second playoff appearance and possibly the playoffs' best goaltender.
"It reminds me of the old days," Parent said. "It's a bunch of blue-collar people playing on this team. From the goaltender on up, they know they have a job to do."
That's the thing: From the goaltender, on up.
On a team without a slew of superstars, you need a hot goalie. In Biron, the Flyers have one.
"If you're fortunate to build momentum, it's a beautiful thing," Parent said. "He has built that momentum."
A glance at the stats - 2.72 goals against, .914 save percentage, both slightly worse than his regular-season efforts - does not accurately tell the tale of Biron's excellence.
It began, for Biron, by shutting out the Devils, then the Penguins, in his last two starts of the regular season, both of which mattered.
He rebounded from a five-goal playoff debut against the Caps with a shutout in Game 2, a crucial, two-overtime win in Game 4 to take the lead in the series, 3 games to 1. His scintillating effort in Game 7 made Montreal a possibility.
There, in Game 1, he gave up a clearly illegal high-stick goal and lost in overtime . . . and proceeded to give up a total of 10 goals in the next four games, all Flyers wins.
"Right now, Biron is seeing the puck in slow motion,'' Parent said. "Your anticipation is better. You have blinders on, just like the horses. The world just doesn't exist outside of hockey, at this time, for you. Nobody else exists."
"He's doing a heck of a job, for as long as he's waited," said Boucher, a backup for San Jose, which just got bounced in the Western Conference semis.
Thanks to the time difference, Boucher was able to watch almost every one of the games involving the team on which he was once the unquestioned fulcrum, albeit briefly. At Sharks team dinners, and afterward, in the team commingling room, the Flyers were on.
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