Six months later, Michael Leighton's five-hole still gives us nightmares

I couldn’t bring myself to click play on the first clip

It was nice to see him improve as the game went along and hopefully like you said it was more about coincidence and rust than habit.

 After it happened I texted a buddy of mine that “I guess that’s Leighton’s glitch goal, seeing as it always goes in.” I highly doubt I have to explain what I meant by glitch goal to anyone who’s played the EA Sports NHL series….

Well I will give him a pass for last night…since he hasn’t gotten a lot of work since being deemed ready. But if he gives up another goal like that, or he continues to keep his legs open like Paris Hilton, or forget he has a paddle, then please just let Boucher start and be done with it.

Does this mean that Boosh needs to buy a bus ticket out of Philadelphia?

Lavy clearly has favorites, and Boosh is not a favorite, Bobs and Lieghts are teachers pets. Even though Wed was not Boucher’s fault, he got pulled for the third string goalie.

I couldn’t watch the first again and never will but that goal last night is pathetic. I mean that looked like high school garbage. But it would seem that Iconious is right it is a gliche goal for him. I bet the add it to the game.

Thanks for reminding me on why I don’t want him as a part of this team. Good deal

During the family watching the game highlights on the NHLN, my 3 year-old daughter asked, “Where’s Boosh?”

A bit off topic but does anyone know the details of Richards’ unsportsmanlike penalty on Bernier last night? It seemed like Richards said something, Bernier jumped him from behind, yet Richards was sent to the box. Does anyone have any idea what Richards said? it must have been something truly Avery-like to get him a penalty.

I really don’t understand the Leighton bashing here. The guy up 2 bad goals in the 1st period after not playing in about 6 months.

But Leighton did get the win. And did make key saves as the game went to maintain the lead and preserve the momentum. In the end the two points is what matters.

Five hole goals look ugly but I don’t understand difference if you are weak up high versus having a weak five hole. The goalie is still going to give up goals. The high shots just look better so us fans aren’t as pissed when a goalie gets beat top shelf versus and slow roller between the pads.

The most important part of goaltending is timely saves at key points in the game when momemtum is swinging and pressure is mounting. Leighton was good in that department last night especially early in the 3rd.

A win is win.

I am no fan of Leighton’s but am willing to give him a pass for last night.

Smyth scored on a blind centering feed. Watch the replay. He’s not even looking at the net when he fires that, and Leighton wasn’t expecting it.

It does bring up a fundamental problem I have with Leighton though… he cheats too much. He makes a lot of his “great saves” when he anticipates well, much like any goalie does. However, it seems to me that when Leighton cheats, he gets a “head start” on it. He’ll have a “half-move” that he makes just before his anticipatory move. And I guess the purpose of the “half-move” is to give himself a chance to back out of it just in case he needs to. But the half move only works if his gut reaction is correct.

He did this last night in the third period when the Kings were on the power play. Leighton got down on his knees, then slid about halfway across as one of the Kings attempted a cross-ice pass. Then, when the puck got through to the other side, Leighton made the final push and made the save. So in that case, it worked because he was right.

In cases like the Smyth goal, where he was wrong, it backfires. Leighton ALWAYS leaves his stick up when he is re-positioning himself or getting ready to get into his square goalie stance. He anticipated Smyth passing the puck out to the half wall or the point, so his stick was up because he wanted to square himself to the eventual shooter. Problem is that Smyth was the eventual shooter, and Leighton wasn’t ready.

And this is why Leighton has never really amounted to anything, in my opinion. Good goalies keep their eyes on the puck as much as they can, and when it’s time to make a save their reflexes / instincts take over. Leighton seems like he is always thinking things through while he’s making a save or anticipating a shot. This is why he makes a lot of first saves but leaves rebounds. It’s like he’s going, “Hey, I made the right decision! What next?”

Just seems that way to me.

That said, he needs to play to get back into game shape so the Flyers can trade him. Someone out there will want the guy if he looks acceptable. He’s got playoff / Stanley Cup Finals experience now. That SHOULD count for something, but Leighton first needs to prove that he can still win games.

Instead of remembering his key contribution in turning last season in the right direction, all we can remember is the OT game 6 goal. (I, too, refuse to watch that clip…) And then for last night’s first goal to look amazingly similar to the game 6 goal, that just really stinks. Though he got better as the night went on, giving up 4 goals is a loss on most nights. I personally have not given up on Leights quite yet, maybe I’m just naive. Whatever. And the other thing is that any goalie’s job will be that much harder without Pronger on the ice. I’d like to see Leighton in net for a few more games before we throw the book at him.

Lucky Asham, gets to play in two straight Winter Classics.

Relax everyone. The guy has not played an NHL game since June. He got better during the game and it is only December. The Flyers have a problem of having too many goalies. This will all shake itself out in a couple of months.

I would not mind sending Bob to the AHL to play lots of hockey. He has a few things to work on and is only a phone call away.

Funny how good the Flyers lines looked last night without Jody Shelley in the lineup. I wonder why? Oh wait I know, he sucks and you cannot play hockey with 2 forwards!!

Any noise on who tonight’s goalie will be? I would imagine Bobs with Leighton backing him up, but thats just my 2 cents.

This post title sounds like a porno gone wrong. Anywho, I think we’re all being hard on Leighton for his first game back. He wasn’t good, but neither of the other GT’s have fared much better lately in all honesty.

My only issue is with Leighton’s contract which is more the fault of the Flyers than anything else. Now they have 3 GT’s, and it’s an impossible situation.

This is paddle down, and should be used for close shots or wrap arounds etc. Not shots like the Cup GWG IMO.

What I would have done if the puck was in that position is called the Vertical-Horizontal.

Leighton was slow to get into this position for the Cup GWG, and that’s what allowed the puck to go in. It might have been ok if he executed it faster, but it’s still not a great choice.