Boucher is Flyers' go-to guy in goal

Predicting which goalies will shine in the Stanley Cup playoffs is an inexact science.

Not many expected Tampa Bay's Dwayne Roloson, a 41-year-old journeyman, to have the best save percentage (.949) after the opening round.

Not many expected Washington's Michal Neuvirth to enter Round 2 with the lowest goals-against average (1.38) in the playoffs.

Oh, and not many expected Brian Boucher, who started the playoffs as the Flyers' No. 2 goalie, to have the third-best goals-against average (2.10) among teams' primary starters - and be ahead of such notables as Roberto Luongo, Carey Price, Tim Thomas, Marc-Andre Fleury, and Ryan Miller.

Then again, Boucher - who will oppose the more-heralded Thomas when the Flyers open the Eastern Conference semifinals by hosting Boston on Saturday afternoon - has a history of excelling in the playoffs.

Like teammate Danny Briere, Boucher, 34, raises his game in the postseason.

Boucher's regular-season career numbers: 2.69 GAA, .901 save percentage.

His career playoff numbers in 40 games: 2.19 GAA, .917 save percentage.

That's why the Flyers don't look at the series as a goalie mismatch, even though Thomas is favored to win the Vezina Trophy as the league's premier netminder.

"We found a way to get by Ryan Miller," said winger Ville Leino, referring to the conference quarterfinals against Buffalo, "and I'm sure we'll find a way to go by Thomas. I'm really comfortable with Boosh right now. He's a battler. He works hard and wants to win, and he's good with pucks and calms the defense down. We trust him quite a lot."

Boucher was 4-1 against the Sabres, with two of the wins in relief.

But because of their goaltending carousel - the Flyers became the first team since 1988 to win a series with three starting goalies - Boucher's strong play against Buffalo was somewhat overlooked.

"Apart from maybe one game where he got some unlucky bounces, he's been strong in the playoffs," Briere said. "We have confidence in him and with Bob [Sergei Bobrovsky] as a backup, if needed. I think we are in good shape."

Boston coach Claude Julien respects Boucher, a New England native.

"Everybody is questioning their goaltending, but their goaltending has always seemed to do the job," Julien said. "So it's one of those situations where I think a lot of what has to be done here will be about us more than it will be about their hockey club and what we need to change from our point of view."

In the last two years, Boucher has outplayed New Jersey legend Martin Brodeur and Olympic hero Miller in the conference quarterfinals.

Now he gets a chance to outduel another standout, Thomas.

"I don't really focus on that too much, to be honest with you," Boucher said. "There are a lot of good goalies in this league. It's a challenge every night to beat these guys. They have a good team. Tim Thomas is a great goalie who had a great year. It's going to be a good challenge. Hopefully, we can keep the ball rolling."

Being overshadowed by big-name goalies "is fine with me," Boucher said. "I think in just about every series I have played in my career, I have probably been the underdog in it. The other goalies probably got the edge, and that's fine. We have a good hockey team in here. I believe in my teammates. When push comes to shove, we can score goals and keep it out of our net from a team standpoint. That's all I'm concerned about."

Boucher was asked whether he was sort of the Rodney Dangerfield of goalies.

"Yeah, I guess if you want to say that, you can say that," he said with a smile.

At least it's better than being called part of the Three Stooges goalie rotation, which is what he heard in the Buffalo series.