A year ago Flyers coach Peter Laviolette road the goaltending pair of Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton to a Stanley Cup appearance. It appears like he’s going to get the old gang back together and try to do it again. Brian Boucher has been named as the starter for game three tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, but the shocker appears to be that Michael Leighton will be his backup, not Sergei Bobrovsky. It's not yet confirmed that Leighton will be dressed for the game tonight, but CSN's Tim Panaccio noted that his locker is full today, which usually means you're playing.
Bobrovsky played well in his playoff debut allowing just one goal in a loss, but struggled in his second game allowing three goals on the first seven shots he faced. That said, two were on the power play and one was more or less a breakaway…
That said, you probably won’t find too many Flyers fans against the idea of Boucher between the pipes. He played well in the postseason last year and did a nice job in relief in game two. It is odd though to see Leighton as the backup given that he hasn’t even been in the NHL all year and now could potentially have to step in to a playoff game. He has played well for the Adirondack Phantoms but that’s a far cry from NHL playoff hockey.
Nikolay Zherdev will also be activated for tonight to replace the injured Andreas Nodl, who has a cut and bruise under his eye.