Frank Seravalli: For Flyers, language of goaltending is universal

Down the long corridor that extends from Peter Laviolette's office at the Flyers Skate Zone, past the Flyers dressing room and by the training rooms, there is often a curtain that gets closed to prevent the wandering eyes of reporters.

Somewhere, out of sight, Sergei Bobrovsky is being re-tooled. You can almost imagine one of the training scenes with Ivan Drago in "Rocky IV" and picture Bobrovsky in his place.

But instead of training with Sergei Igor Rimsky, Drago's trainer in the movie, Bobrovsky has been working daily with Flyers goaltending coach Jeff Reese. After almost every practice for the last 2 weeks, Reese and Bobrovsky have spent extra time working on technique, position and puck handling. Last season, the little touches Reese added to Michael Leighton's game helped transform him from waiver-wire pickup to Stanley Cup finalist.

"It is absolutely a work in progress with 'Bob,' " Reese said. "He is an undrafted guy that just turned 22. He's mature beyond his years. He prepares like a pro. We're going to have our ups and downs with him. He's going to have good times and bad times. The important thing for him right now is to not get too high or too low."

It would be easy for Bobrovsky, who is expected to start tonight against Florida in the Flyers' last game before the holiday break, to get down on himself. Some of the reports after his last few starts have been incredulous.

You would have thought that Bobrovsky was 4-15-3 instead of 15-4-3 and had a 3.32 goals against-average instead of a 2.32.

Some have nitpicked Bobrovsky's record against winning teams (5-4-2) when compared to losing teams (10-0-1). Some have said Bobrovsky's weakness is apparent when teams ping the top corners. Others point to the fact that Bobrovsky, who started the season 11-2-1 and is 4-2-2 since, started the season as an unknown from Russia's Kontinental Hockey League and teams have now been able to develop a sophisticated "book" or scouting report against him.

"I bet you could say the same things about every goaltender in the league," Reese said. "Certainly, there's going to be tape on him and teams are going to be able to prepare for him now. But that works both ways. Now he has seen some shooters, he knows how they shoot, he knows their tendencies and their power plays.