Flyers cast their lot with journeyman goaltender Leighton
It wasn't the best way for Michael Leighton to mark the occasion.
The Philadelphia Flyers couldn't have been pleased either, after giving Leighton a big vote of confidence earlier in the day. But they gave him a pass -- they had to after playing what coach Peter Laviolette described as "mindless hockey" and getting blitzed 7-4 on Wednesday by a Florida Panthers team that hadn't scored more than two goals in 14 games.
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| With his GAA around 2.20, Michael Leighton has been more than a stopgap for the Flyers. (AP) |
Not that anyone really wanted to only a few hours after the trade deadline passed and the Flyers did not make a widely presumed move to acquire a veteran goaltender. In effect the Flyers have cast their lot with Leighton, and so the four goals he allowed before being pulled in the second period were put in context of the great game he played 24 hours earlier to key his and the team's fifth victory in a row.
"He was the difference maker," Laviolette said of a 7-2 victory at Tampa Bay on Tuesday.
Thing is, "difference maker" is now part of Leighton's job description and a role he'll have to handle from here on in if the Flyers hope to reach the playoffs and make some noise when they get there.
Philadelphia (33-26-3) has the skill, size and depth to make a postseason run, and it came into the season expected to do so after adding defenseman Chris Pronger. But the Flyers are also a team that has been habitually undermined by its goaltending at crunch time. Chances are, you'll find big odds in Vegas assuming it will happen again.
Philadelphia thought the situation was resolved during the offseason when Ray Emery, the netminder who took Ottawa to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, was brought back from Russia as a free agent. The move looked good because Emery generally played well when he was healthy, which wasn't very often, but last month Emery had to shut it down to undergo career-threatening hip surgery.
In the meantime, Leighton, the 28-year-old journeyman picked up on waivers in December, has been carrying the load and making the most of his first chance at being a first-string NHL goalie. Leighton started 10 of 11 games after Emery was hurt the first time, going 8-2, and has gone 5-2 in the seven consecutive starts since Emery was re-injured. Leighton was one of the Players of the Week leading up to the Olympic break, and overall he has posted a .920 save percentage with the Flyers and a goals-against average around the 2.20 mark.
In essence, those impressive numbers make Leighton one of the biggest reasons the team has recovered from a dismal start that cost coach John Stevens his job in December. And in the process, Leighton seems to be following in a line of recent late-blooming goalies like Dwayne Roloson, Tim Thomas and Craig Anderson, who took years to get a shot at being a No. 1.
"It's been a while since I played this many games, but Lavy knows me and he’s giving me a chance to play a lot," Leighton said. "The more you play, the more comfortable you feel, but obviously I have to keep proving myself."
It hasn't been easy for Leighton, a fifth-round pick by the Blackhawks in 1999. He turned pro three years later and bounced around four organizations for the next few years before landing in Carolina in 2006 when Laviolette was the coach.
"He didn't play much because Cam [Ward] was there," Laviolette said. "He played on our minor league team and did really well and we were really happy with him, but sometimes you just don't get a chance when you back up."
Leighton generally did spend more time in the minors than in Raleigh, but when the Hurricanes tried to sneak him through on waivers after Ward returned from an injury, the Flyers grabbed him and provided a chance to earn some stripes in the NHL.
Philadelphia was in a tailspin at the time, with Emery suffering a stomach injury and going on the injured list for the first time. The team had lost 13 of 18. Laviolette was less than a dozen games into his new job and struggling to turn things around. And even then, there was a sense around the league that the Flyers needed to get better in goal.
Leighton was considered a stopgap by most, but he has been effective. So even if general manager Paul Holmgren would have had the assets or cap space to do something with potential impact, there was nothing to suggest he could have upgraded. Besides, Holmgren addressed the team a few weeks ago and said he liked its makeup and didn't want to upset the chemistry.
Not that it provided a great deal of reassurance for someone with Leighton's career path. At least until the deadline passed.
"I tried not to listen to rumors and with the cap, but it's something I thought about," Leighton said. "It's hard to move guys because of the cap, but you never know what's going to happen.
"But it is what it is and now that it's gone, you can just brush that aside and concentrate on playing -- and just try to continue what I'm doing. Obviously, I'm happy the way things are going, but I know the better I play, the better it will be for me in the future. I still have to establish myself."
