Puckhandling rising on Bobrovsky's to-do list

Sergei Bobrovsky tried to put into English on Thursday night what Flyers goaltending coach Jeff Reese has been saying since September.

"I'm actually feeling more and more comfortable as more time goes on," Bobrovsky said with the help of a translator a few minutes after picking up his 24th win of the season.

Believe it or not, Reese said Bobrovsky's confidence is evident the most in puckhandling, a part of his game that received a lot of scorn after Tuesday's overtime loss to Phoenix. Kimmo Timonen's words of praise for the veteran puckhandler, Brian Boucher, on Wednesday made headlines.

It was no surprise to Reese that after the questions swirling around Bobrovsky's puckhandling - questions that Bobrovsky can't understand or read anyway - the rookie netminder was not only back in net on Thursday, but also back behind the net and eager to set up his teammates.

Perhaps, in some way, it was fitting that the Islanders' game-tying goal with 27 seconds left started after Bobrovsky gave the puck away behind the net.

"To me, the biggest thing for him is that he has the courage to get out and do it now," Reese said yesterday. "I know that he is not going to be perfect every time, but he needs to try and make a play. That's the only way he is going to get better."

Reese acknowledged that it is an area that Bobrovsky "has to improve on." But a big part of puckhandling for a goaltender is communication, and not speaking the English language presents more than a slight roadblock.

"It's talking," Timonen said. "What is he going to do with the puck? It's going to take time. It's not easy, and we all understand that."

As Timonen said, the seldom-considered art form can be a game-changer. For him, it's not just about expending less energy chasing down the puck, it's also about having a chance to look around and find your teammate for a breakout pass.

"It's going to make it hard for us to make a good first pass [without it]," Timonen said. "If you stop the puck behind the net, you break out right away. It's a simple thing but it makes a huge difference. More than you think.

" 'Boosh' is really good at doing it, and it makes a huge difference for us."

For Timonen to compare Bobrovsky's skills in their current state with Boucher's is unfair. In Russia, with rinks 13 feet wider, Bobrovsky reportedly did not play a single puck in his 3-year professional career.

Boucher, now in his 10th professional season, recognizes the difficulty of puck precision in the NHL.

"[It took] probably 3 to 4 years," Boucher said when asked about how long it took him to feel comfortable. "He is learning on the job here. This is something that takes years to get better at, and getting better reads on the forecheck.

"It takes time. I can't say practice. It's not practice. It's situations in a game."

That's what makes Bobrovsky's eagerness more impressive, Reese said.

"He's learning, on the fly, in the best league in the world," Reese said. "The players are so fast here, they're in on you in a hurry. In the minors, it's a little bit slower. He would have had a chance to learn better there. Personally, I think he's done an admirable job."

Coach Peter Laviolette has been pleased with Bobrovsky's progress.

"If you haven't done much of it your whole life, it's hard to expect someone to go in and be perfect at it," Laviolette said. "He's a hard-working kid. We have time. Lots of time."

Besides, Bobrovsky has a bigger priority than stopping the puck behind the net, and that's stopping the puck in front of it. Reese has no complaints on that end. *

For more news and analysis, read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at

www.philly.com/FrequentFlyers. Follow him on Twitter at

http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.