24 penalties made for a crazy hockey game

While characterizing Game 2 of the Flyers-Sabres first-round Stanley Cup playoff series, Brian Boucher used the same word over and over. Crazy.

There were 24 penalties, and the unending parade of players into the penalty box made it impossible for the game to flow. Crazy.

Six goals were scored in the first period. Crazy.

Skaters could barely take five strides without either becoming entangled, or thumped, or both. Crazy.

As young Sergei Bobrovsky flopped around in front of the Flyers net like an out-of-control marionette and Buffalo needed just seven shots and 121/2 minutes to score three goals, the Flyers desperately needed someone to restore order, someone to toss a blanket of calm over them.

That someone was Boucher, who stopped 20 of 21 shots after hopping over the boards to replace Bobrovsky in a 5-4 Flyers win Saturday that evened the series at one game apiece.

"Boosh is a veteran guy. He has a calmness about him," Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. "He can come in and settle things down."

Boucher is 34 and pretty much the definition of a journeyman. He's been coming off benches for several teams around the NHL and putting out fires for a long time, and he was mature enough to come to terms with his primary role as a backup.

But there have been few times in his career when he's had to come off the bench with so little preparation on a particular game day. There was no morning workout because of the unusual 5 p.m. starting time. And as the backup, he got to face only about a half-dozen shots during the pregame warm-up.

"Sometimes you've got to deal with curveballs," he said in a Flyers dressing room where a sense of relief was palpable. "We didn't have a morning skate, so you pretty much go on adrenaline."

Boucher barely had time to adjust his equipment when the Sabres came at him with two quick scoring chances - one by Tyler Ennis and another by Tim Connolly. If either had gone in, the Sabres would have taken a 4-2 lead, and who knows the impact that would have had on the Flyers. It certainly wouldn't have been good.

"It's good to make a few saves and feel the puck," he said. "Obviously, you don't want to go in there and give up a goal - that would kind of be deflating. It worked out tonight and we're happy to be 1-1."

Shortly after Boucher entered the game, James van Riemsdyk tied the score, 3-3. Ville Leino and Danny Briere made it 5-3 in the second, and it was up to Boucher to protect the lead. It wasn't easy. In rapid succession, Buffalo had three power plays at the start of the third period.

"It was a crazy game in that sense," Boucher said. "I don't ever recall a game with this many penalties in the last two, three years. I mean, this is a penalty-filled game that made it difficult to get into a routine. It was a crazy game, but a big win for us."

The pressure on Boucher increased when Cody McCormick pulled the Sabres within 5-4 with 13 minutes, 48 seconds remaining. By then, both teams were running low on fuel because of all the emotion and penalty killing. But Boucher protected the one-goal lead to keep the Flyers from falling into a two-games-to-none ditch with the next two games in Buffalo.

"I just wanted to be solid for my teammates so we'd have a chance to come back," Boucher said. "It was one of those crazy games. I just wanted to do my best, and it worked out."

Boucher shrugged and said "of course" when asked whether he'd like to start Game 3, adding, "What goalie wouldn't?" But he graciously accepts his role, difficult as it can be.

"It's a role you've got to kind of grow into a little bit," he said. "Obviously, it's much more comfortable to know you're getting a start so you can prepare the day before accordingly. But as a goaltender, if you're starting or not starting, it's important to prepare either way. If you're not starting, then you prepare as if you are going to play."