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Watch Brian Boucher’s Double Knee Injury From Every Conceivable Angle

May 11, 2010, 2:00 PM UTC

â†µâ†µToâ†µsay the Flyers have had goaltending issues this season would be somewhat of anâ†µunderstatement. Over the course of the regular season, the Flyers had fiveâ†µgoalies take the ice for the team, with four of them getting at least one start. Ray Emery wasâ†µbrought in to be the starting goaltender but when he got injured, the teamâ†µbrought in Michael Leighton. When he got injured, the team went toâ†µjourneyman netminder Brian Boucher, who had started his career in Philadelphia. Eventuallyâ†µhe got injured, then Emery got injured again, then...you see the situation.
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â†µTheâ†µregular season was a revolving door of injuries for the three and by season’sâ†µend, Boucher was the only one left skating. So Boucher, with his 9-18 recordâ†µand .899 save percentage, got the call for the playoffs. What did he do? Heâ†µhelped the Flyers beat the second-seeded Devils in five games while, as theyâ†µsay in hockey parlance, standing on his head. He was great in Round 1, andâ†µdespite falling behind three games to none in the second round against Boston, was solid in netâ†µfor much of the series.
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â†µThatâ†µincluded last night, as Boucher was pitching a shutout into the second periodâ†µin a must-win game for Philadelphia.â†µThen this happened:
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â†µIf you ever wanted to watch a man’s knee bend in ways no knee should bend from every conceivable angle, you just got it. It surely looks less gruesome because of all the pads, but Boucher told reporters after the game that he knew it wasn’t good:â†µâ†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥On [teammate Ryan] Parent falling on him: “When he fell on me, I knew right away. I just wanted him to get off me. It was just a weird play. It’s unfortunate.”â†µâ‡¥
â†µâ‡¥â†µâ‡¥On how he is feeling: “I’m sore right now and I’m personally disappointed that I got hurt ... I’m happy with the win.”â†µâ‡¥

â†µâ†µReports immediately after the game indicated that Boucher injured both knees in the collision, but the extent of the damage awaited evaluation. â†µ

â†µLeighton, who was activated as the No. 2 goalie last night after a lengthy recovery from a high ankle sprain, saw his first action since March 16. He'll now be the guy for the Flyers the rest of the way. Of course, the rest of the way could be nothing more than Wednesday, as the Flyers are still facing elimination in every game they'll play this series.â†µRich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News talked with Leighton after the game:â†µ

â†µâ†µâ‡¥“I actually couldn’t even believe it happened,” Leighton said. “Obviously, we had Ray going down early, and then Boosh goes down, and then Ray comes back, and I get hurt. It’s definitely been a roller coaster for the goalies this year. But the team has done great playing in front of all of us.â†µâ‡¥
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â†µâ‡¥“Ray is a great goalie and we wish him back. Boosh, obviously he’s done well for this team, he’s got us in the position we’re in.”â†µâ‡¥Then Leighton said, “You can go a whole year without seeing a goalie injured.” He kind of laughed when he said it.â†µâ†µAt this point, all the Flyers’ goalies can do is laugh. Well, except Boucher, because that probably â†µhurt quite a bit.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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