Friday, April 23, 2010

THE MIGHTY BOOSH!

With a stellar shutout from Brian "The Mighty Boosh" Boucher, the Flyers have eliminated the New Jersey Devils. The Conn Smythe watch begins here.

The Flyers started the season with Ray Emery between the pipes, hopeful that he was the answer to their goaltending woes. He wasn't. Even discounting his injury troubles, Emery was 33rd in the league in save percentage (.905) and 22nd in GAA (2.64).

Michael Leighton stepped in and posted nearly identical numbers to Emery (.905 SV%, 2.83 GAA) before he too was injured.

The Flyers, shocking nearly everyone, chose not to trade for a goalie at the trade deadline, sticking with Leighton and Boucher, trusting that Leighton would stay healthy. He didn't.

In came Brian "The Mighty Boosh" Boucher, one of the few goalies in the league with a worse save percentage than Emery and Leighton (.899). And while the Flyers were a reasonably popular choice as a first-round upset, I sincerely doubt anyone expected The Mighty Boosh to post a .940 save percentage and a 1.59 GAA in the process. But he did.

The NHL journeyman on his second stint with the Flyers after spending time with 5 other NHL franchises stepped up his game when it mattered the most and was simply better than the future hall-of-famer, Martin Brodeur, who leaves the playoffs with a sad stat-line - .881 SV% and a 3.01 GAA - continuing a downward trend in his playoff performance since the lockout.

But now is not the time to dwell on the rotund one's failings; now's the time to celebrate the greatness of The Mighty Boosh! Boosh for the Conn Smythe!

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