Right now, thousands of Toronto Maple Leafs fans are leaving their home arena for the last time this season. There will be no playoff hockey for Toronto (again). After the road win tonight, the Flyers are that much closer to making sure their fans don't meet that fate on Sunday at the Wachovia Center.
Credit Brian Boucher as the biggest reason for that reality, at least lately. For the third straight game, Boosh was strong in net for the Flyers, earning his 100th career victory and 17th career shutout in a 2-0 Flyers win. You gotta see this one save to believe it.
Boucher made an amazing stop in the waning minutes of regulation when the Maple Leafs were furiously, desperately trying to tie the game, and then made another on the rebound a second later. It was a low-scoring game with relatively few shots (23 per team), but that doesn't mean it was an easy one for the guys in net. JS Giguere was equally good for the Leafs, particularly on several huge saves on Claude Giroux shots.
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Giroux would pot the game winner in this one, depositing a great pass from Danny Briere quickly behind Giguere midway through the first period. Briere, set up in his office behind the net, took a feed from Kimmo Timonen and quickly fed it to a streaking Giroux. No one from either team would score again until Mike Richards would give us all a Lipitor by throwing the puck into Toronto's open net. That was Richie's 29th of the season, one off the career high he set last season.
Two games left, both against the Rangers, who lost tonight. Atlanta and Montreal did too, though the Habs picked up a point by lasting 'til the shutout. If Toronto wins at Madison Square Garden tomorrow, the Flyers are assured a playoff spot. If not, they can also control their own fate by continuing to win...