Boucher recalled; Leighton hurt
TORONTO -- When the Flyers land in Canada’s cosmopolitan nerve center on Sunday afternoon, they will have a familiar face on-board their chartered jet.
Boucher recalled; Leighton hurt
Frank Seravalli
TORONTO -- When the Flyers land in Canada’s cosmopolitan nerve center on Sunday afternoon, they will have a familiar face on-board their chartered jet.
The Flyers recalled goaltender Brian Boucher on Sunday from AHL Adirondack. Backup Michael Leighton suffered an upper-body injury recently, which will keep him out for 7-to-10 days, according to Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren.
Holmgren said the injury occurred in practice on Friday and worsened on Saturday. Leighton has not played since Jan. 27.
Boucher could play an integral role as the Flyers begin a season-long 6-game road swing, since the trip commences with back-to-back stops in Toronto and Winnipeg on Monday and Tuesday.
Ilya Bryzgalov has started both games in two of the Flyers’ three back-to-back sets this season so far. He’s also played 10 of 11 games, yielding just 59 minutes worth of work to Leighton compared to his 662. Bryzgalov is 5-5-1 with a .921 save percentage and 2.21 goals against-average.
Boucher, 36, has been excellent in his fourth stint with the Flyers’ organization. He’s compiled a .908 save percentage and 2.71 goals against-average in 6 starts with the Phantoms, who are the East’s worst team.
Leighton, 31, was rocked in his only game of the season - a 5-1 loss to Tampa Bay on Jan. 27. The Flyers beat the Lightning, 2-1, behind Bryzgalov last Tuesday.
Leighton has appeared in 4 NHL games (including playoffs) since Game 6 of the 2010 Stanley Cup final. He has a goals against-average of 4.12 (9 GA in 189 minutes) and an .896 save percentage in those 4 games.
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people forget that leighton pitched 3 shutouts for the flyers during the last stanley cup run. if you look at his stats during the years that he was actually healthy, he was an average NHL goalie at worst. plus, he owns the AHL. give the guy a break.— lookyhere- Boosh has shown he is able to handle being a back up and play afew games in a row if needed. plus when Boosh is on his game he is more than able to win games in this league. I would rather have Boosh as our back up than LEAKY!— srcdaddy1216
- What did we do with those three draft picks we got for Bob?— Mike Boryla
- LEIGHTON IS A HORRIBLE STIFF THAT COST US A CUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY IS HE EVEN IN THE LEAGUE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!— lanzascat
- No idea why Homer signed Leighton 2 years ago.— Nitroglycerin
- Who cares? Average team. Not winning a cup this year. Not even close. (HTML deleted)— jibberjabber
- Who cares? Average team. Not winning a cup this year. Not even close.
— jibberjabber - i feel bad for leighton... injuries have hampered his career so much— zwarte piet
- Since Gagne is UFA next year...I wonder what it would take to get him, or just wait until the season is over. We could use some offense..he has 5 assist's this year. He deserves to end his career in Philly..— CanadianFlyer
- How about some offense??— quigly46
I've seen this somewhere before....ugh. Can we please get a hungry young prospect as a backup, or at least an older goalie who has had previous success like the role Vokoun has played the last 2 years. Boosh/Leights are pretty much the same below average goalies. All is well and good while Bryz is healthy, but it will hit the fan fast if he goes down....you thought wins were tough now...- The bottom line is that Brian Boucher has been playing and Michael Leighton -- whether he's good, bad, whatever -- has been sitting. Just by that fact alone, the Flyers have a better chance of winning on Tuesday, which is likely when the backup would play.— FlyerBacker88
- Amazing! Leighton was clearly terrible and suddenly suffers an "upper body injury" just as they need him. How does he keep tricking Homer into thinking he's a legit backup goalie each offseason when everyone else on the planet knows he is the new Neil Little.— logicandreason
- Here's hoping Boosh has something left in the tank. He will need to play during some of these back to back games and the flyers certainly can't afford to peeee away every road game. Also good to see the Schenn boys starting to click - a lot invested in them. And good move for Lavy shaking up the top line in OT against the hurricanes...— bigdaddyG
Snipes is the only one who will miss Leaky. Boucher will probably play in one of the back-to-back road games vs the Leafs and Jets.
The Flyers need some road victories in the worst way...- Goaltending is not the issue. The Flyers need to find someone who can put the bisquet in the basket. Period!
— djlen
