Flyers pitting youth vs. maturity in goalie matchup with Buffalo

At first glance, the goalie matchup should give the Buffalo Sabres a huge advantage over the Flyers in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series that begins Thursday at the Wells Fargo Center.

In one net will be Buffalo's Ryan Miller, the onetime U.S. Olympic hero who appears fully recovered from an apparent collarbone injury that sidelined him for four late-season games. The 30-year-old Miller, the Vezina Trophy winner as the league's top goalie in 2009-10, has played in 40 playoff games in his eight-year career.

In the other net will be acrobatic-but-raw Sergei Bobrovsky, 22, who had an impressive rookie year but went through some ups and downs in the second half of the Flyers' season.

Can you say mismatch?

Not so fast.

Last year, the same was being said when the Flyers' Brian Boucher was matched against New Jersey's legendary Martin Brodeur in the conference quarterfinals.

All Boucher did was go 4-1 with a 1.59 goals-against average and .940 save percentage in the series.

Brodeur? The future Hall of Famer lost four of five starts and had a 3.01 GAA and just an .881 save percentage.

Oh, and the numbers posted by Miller and Bobrovsky are nearly identical this season.

Miller was 34-22-8 with a 2.59 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.

Bobrovsky was 28-13-8 with a 2.59 GAA and .915 save percentage.

In the teams' four meetings this season, Bobrovsky slightly outplayed Miller as each side won two games.

Miller, who helped the United States win a silver Olympic medal last year, was 2-2 with a 3.62 goals-against average and .890 save percentage against the Flyers, although he was sharp in a scoreless relief effort in the Sabres' 4-3 overtime win on Friday.

Bobrovsky was 2-2 against the Sabres with a 3.26 GAA and .906 save percentage.

In the Flyers' regular-season finale against the Islanders, Bobrovsky struggled and was pulled after allowing three goals in the first 12 minutes, 5 seconds. Brian Boucher was solid in relief as the Flyers rallied for a 7-4 victory.

"I'm not worried," said defenseman Andrej Meszaros when asked if he had concerns after Bobrovsky's performance against the Isles. "He's going to be good. It's good to see [Boucher] step up, too, because you never know what will happen in the playoffs. We have confidence in both goalies. Even [Michael Leighton], he's up right now. I'm sure whoever is in the net, everybody will be comfortable" with him."