Brian Boucher

WITH THE YEAR of the Seven Goalies, also known as the Flyers' 2009-10 season, still fresh in his mind, general manager Paul Holmgren was in the market for an insurance policy in net. Just in case. On the farm, Scott Munroe is on an AHL-only contract, and undrafted rookie Cal Heeter would be the only replacement possibility. Turns out, old friend Brian Boucher didn't fit in the Carolina Hurricanes' plans, with Dan Ellis and Justin Peters beckoning to be Cam Ward's backup. Early Sunday, the Flyers reacquired Boucher and prospect Mark Alt in exchange for minor leaguer Luke Pither.

TORONTO - Goalie Brian Boucher is now Ilya Bryzgalov's understudy. The Flyers recalled Boucher from the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms on Sunday and placed Michael Leighton on the injured-reserve list. Leighton, who lost a 5-1 decision to Tampa Bay in his only start this season, has an unspecified upper-body injury and could be sidelined as long as 10 days. Boucher, 36, who had off-season shoulder surgery, said he felt "dialed in" after playing six games with the Phantoms. "I was able to go down and play some games, and I feel good about my game right now," Boucher said.

On the first day after the lockout officially ended, the Flyers made a pair of moves, signing unrestricted free-agent defenseman Kurtis Foster and reacquiring goalie Brian Boucher in a deal with Carolina. Foster, a 6-foot-5, 225-pounder who was used on the second power-play unit during Sunday's first official practice, signed a one-year deal for $950,000. He gives the Flyers more depth and a powerful righthanded shot on the power play. "He's got a bomb back there," center Claude Giroux said.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette sent backup goalie Brian Boucher onto the ice Saturday for the fourth time in the last five games. It is December, so it is dangerous to say that this, or anything else that happens with the hockey team for a while, means anything. But nothing succeeds like success, and Boucher extended a personal seven-game unbeaten streak in the 4-1 win over the Rangers, also completing a stretch in which he has come out ahead of both Pittsburgh and Boston. Holding your own against some of the best of the conference rivals can't hurt your standing, but Boucher has been around long enough to know that Decembers are not what this game is about.

Brian Boucher chose goaltending the way many young hockey players do. "The guys I was playing with were two or three years older than I was and they needed a target, so they threw me in there," said Boucher, who is playing goal for the East team at the U.S. Olympic Festival this week. In the recent NHL draft, the Flyers made Boucher their first pick, so they're glad he was chosen as the target in the Rhode Island youth leagues where he started. It is the only time the Flyers have used a first-round pick (the 22d overall)

The practicing Phantoms cycled and circled atop the ice at the First Union Spectrum on Thursday morning, taking pucks from the dozens lying at the rink's center and blasting their shots at either net. Brian Boucher, the Flyers' 1995 top pick, tended one net while Jean-Marc Pelletier, the Flyers' 1997 top pick, defended the other. They stretched and lunged with glove, stick and pad, their stops heard as thuds on rubber, clangs off metal posts, or cracks against wood. Block, block, block - for hours, it seemed.

They won without their captain, Eric Lindros, who left the game after warm-ups with back spasms. They won without their coach, Roger Neilson, who gave way to interim coach Craig Ramsay because of his bone marrow cancer treatments. They won without one of their best defensemen, Dan McGillis, who pulled a groin muscle in the second period. Mostly, however, the Flyers won, 3-1, over the Chicago Blackhawks last night at the First Union Center because of somebody who was there.

The Flyers continued to have trouble finding the net last night. Thankfully for them, Brian Boucher made sure the Ottawa Senators had similar difficulties. Without Boucher's solid play, the Flyers might have lost their fourth game in a row. Instead, the rookie goaltender made 22 saves to help them salvage a 1-1 tie at the First Union Center. The only goal Boucher gave up was a power-play tally by Shawn McEachern at 13 minutes, 59 seconds of the second period. McEachern's goal came on the third shot the Senators took in a flurry of activity in front of the Flyers' net. McEachern's goal seemed to awaken the Flyers.

As the start of the third period neared, Brian Boucher dropped to his knees in front of the Flyers' net. Ostensibly, the rookie goalie was stretching. No one, however, would have blamed him had he said a tiny prayer. In the third period of a Game 7, with the score tied at 1-1, there is no room for error. Unfortunately for Boucher and the Flyers, no matter how well a goaltender plays - or prays - there is always room in an NHL net. As Boucher heaved himself toward the shot with helpless desperation, the Devils' Patrick Elias pushed a bouncing rebound into a gaping hole with just 2 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in Game 7 last night.

It wasn't a pretty game. There wasn't much flow. There wasn't much excitement. There wasn't much of anything, really, other than suspense. "Kind of a boring game," was how Flyers goalie Brian Boucher described the Flyers' 3-0 win over the Bruins yesterday at the FleetCenter. "This whole Ray Bourque thing played on [the Bruins'] minds. Maybe that played into it. " Rumors swirled before and after the game that a trade was in the works that would send Bourque away from the town he has played in for 21 years.

JAROMIR JAGR is gone. But Claude Giroux cannot deny that he is a different player depending on whether Scott Hartnell is skating next to him. "My job's a lot easier," Giroux said of playing with Hartnell. "He's got that attitude that he's going to win that battle. Whatever you're trying to do, he's going to win. When he wins battles, it's so much easier for us to play. " Since Hartnell rejoined the Flyers' lineup last Saturday after missing 16 games with a fractured toe, Giroux has returned to playing like the Hart Trophy contender many pegged him to be. Giroux's statistics back that up. Giroux has eight points in his six full games playing with Hartnell this season (1.33 points per game)

SIMON GAGNE was unhappy. As a consistent healthy scratch, really for the first time in his NHL career, Gagne called his agent to discuss his options. Gagne decided to sit on it, rather than approach Kings general manager Dean Lombardi to request a trade. Maybe things would turn around, he hoped. So, when Lombardi and former Flyer, now Kings assistant GM Ron Hextall summoned him from the locker room for a chat on Tuesday afternoon in California, Gagne was not surprised. "When they told me the place," Gagne said, "that's when I was really excited.

MONTREAL - For the offensively challenged Flyers, Operation Roadkill continued Saturday night. They managed just 19 shots and dropped a 4-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre, falling to 2-8 on the road this season. Afterward, captain Claude Giroux called out the team. "It's not acceptable the way we played tonight," he said. "It's not just two or three guys. It's the whole team. . . . We didn't show up. " Giroux said the Flyers aren't winning enough battles, aren't competing hard enough.

MONTREAL - For the offensively challenged Flyers, Operation Roadkill continued Saturday night. They managed just 19 shots and dropped a 4-1 decision to the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre, falling to 2-8 on the road this season. Afterward, captain Claude Giroux called out the team. "It's not acceptable the way we played tonight," he said. "It's not just two or three guys. It's the whole team. . . . We didn't show up. " Giroux said the Flyers aren't winning enough battles, aren't competing hard enough.

TORONTO - If Flyers coach Peter Laviolette decides to call Brian Boucher's name Tuesday night in Winnipeg, the veteran goalie says he is ready for his first NHL start since last season. "Yeah, absolutely," Boucher said after rejoining the Flyers and taking part in their morning practice before Monday night's game in Toronto. "I played a bit in Adirondack, so it's been good. Anytime you get game sharpness, it certainly helps, and I feel it's been a good thing for me. " Laviolette would not commit to Tuesday's goalie.

TORONTO - Charging like a runaway freight train, James van Riemsdyk rounded the corner after blowing by Luke Schenn and tried to corral the puck on a clear break. As he neared Brian Boucher in the Flyers' net, perhaps with a tinge of nerves playing against his former team for the first time, van Riemsdyk fumbled the puck as he went to snap off a shot. He recovered just in time to slip a backhand past Boucher, skating past the Flyers' bench with a fist-pump and a roar. "Yeah, that felt better than a regular goal," van Riemsdyk admitted, after scoring his eighth of the season to pull into a tie for fifth-most leaguewide.

TORONTO - Nearly 2 years younger, Flyers forward Brayden Schenn has relied on his older brother, Luke, to help navigate the ropes of the NHL. Luke Schenn had nearly 150 NHL games under his belt by the time Brayden finally got his chance with the Flyers last season. This year, the protégé has guided the veteran. "He's got a little seniority with the Flyers," Luke Schenn said with a smile. "He's showed me the ways a little bit. " Brayden was traded to the Flyers from Los Angeles in 2011.

TORONTO - Goalie Brian Boucher is now Ilya Bryzgalov's understudy. The Flyers recalled Boucher from the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms on Sunday and placed Michael Leighton on the injured-reserve list. Leighton, who lost a 5-1 decision to Tampa Bay in his only start this season, has an unspecified upper-body injury and could be sidelined as long as 10 days. Boucher, 36, who had off-season shoulder surgery, said he felt "dialed in" after playing six games with the Phantoms. "I was able to go down and play some games, and I feel good about my game right now," Boucher said.

WITH THE YEAR of the Seven Goalies, also known as the Flyers' 2009-10 season, still fresh in his mind, general manager Paul Holmgren was in the market for an insurance policy in net. Just in case. On the farm, Scott Munroe is on an AHL-only contract, and undrafted rookie Cal Heeter would be the only replacement possibility. Turns out, old friend Brian Boucher didn't fit in the Carolina Hurricanes' plans, with Dan Ellis and Justin Peters beckoning to be Cam Ward's backup. Early Sunday, the Flyers reacquired Boucher and prospect Mark Alt in exchange for minor leaguer Luke Pither.

On the first day after the lockout officially ended, the Flyers made a pair of moves, signing unrestricted free-agent defenseman Kurtis Foster and reacquiring goalie Brian Boucher in a deal with Carolina. Foster, a 6-foot-5, 225-pounder who was used on the second power-play unit during Sunday's first official practice, signed a one-year deal for $950,000. He gives the Flyers more depth and a powerful righthanded shot on the power play. "He's got a bomb back there," center Claude Giroux said.