Invisible man Coburn makes a big showing

An introduction is probably in order.

Meet Braydon Coburn, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound Flyers defenseman who effortlessly swoops up and down the ice with long strides and seems capable of wrapping up a forward from the other end of the rink with his extraordinary reach.

If there is an invisible Flyer, it is Coburn. He is paired with the more notable Kimmo Timonen, who has helped Coburn learn the nuances of playing a demanding position. Like the rest of the Flyers defensemen, he is overshadowed by Chris Pronger, and his Western Canadian reserve enables him to blend into the woodwork with ease.

Coburn seems to thrive in relative anonymity, but he has been a solid, comforting presence since Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren acquired - make that stole - him from the Atlanta Thrashers for enigmatic Alexei Zhitnik at the February trade deadline in 2007.

Coburn couldn't help but be noticed in Tuesday night's Game 7 of a wild first-round playoff series against Buffalo. With the first period nearing conclusion and the game still scoreless, the Flyers needed a tension breaker. They were outshooting the Sabres, 15-2, and skating rings around them, but that wasn't good enough.

There were 19 seconds remaining in the period when Danny Briere drew a faceoff back to Coburn at the blue line. Coburn sent a wrist shot toward the net with hopes something good might happen. For the Flyers, something good did happen. Coburn's shot ticked off the glove of Buffalo's Mike Grier. The puck went from a saucer to a wobbler, and the trajectory changed ever so slightly, just enough to fool Sabres goalie Ryan Miller.

The puck went through Miller's pads, and the Flyers broke out of the gate and ran away with a 5-2 win.

"Goals at the end of a period and goals at the start of a period are usually momentum turners," Coburn said.

Usually, though, Coburn is watching someone else score the goals. He had only two during the regular season, his last coming on Feb. 18 at Carolina. His other goal came back in November, but just about everyone scored in that 8-7 win over Tampa Bay.

So when asked if he was surprised his shot went in, Coburn smiled. "Well, yeah, it's only my third goal."

Until Coburn scored, Miller had the look of the goalie who stole Games 1 and 4 with 1-0 shutouts. But Coburn, aided by a stroke of fortune, showed his teammates that Miller couldn't stop everything. After Coburn's goal, Miller wasn't quite the same. He was pulled in the third period after Ville Leino made it 4-0 in a victory that gave the Flyers the series, four games to three. The Flyers will play Boston, Pittsburgh, or Tampa Bay in the second round.

"We knew [a goal] was coming just because of how we were pressing," Coburn said. Miller "made some unbelievable saves. I think we just had a feeling - we knew it was going to come, and sometimes the goals come like mine, a shot from the point that hits something and goes in."

Coburn's finest moment in the series against the Sabres probably came in Game 3, when the Flyers had to kill off a five-minute major against Mike Richards. Coburn was on the ice for much of the penalty kill, which held Buffalo to two shots and enabled the Flyers to pull out a 4-2 win.

Coburn finished the series at plus-6 in the plus/minus ratings and was the busiest among the Flyers in Game 7, logging 24 minutes, 20 seconds. But it was the goal that momentarily made him the center of attention. Next time he gets this much notice, it may be because of a mistake he makes on defense, and it could be quite a while before that happens.