[trader220]

Richards is proving his worth. The Flyers were being out played early and that first goal was pure hustle. The Chicago d-man made a lazy play not protecting the puck in his own zone and he should never let his pocket get picked like that. Same goes for Duncan Keith for not lifting that puck out of the zone and letting it go right to the stick of the open Flyer, thanks for the set up pass.

Both goalies looked fantastic at times and average at other times. Goalies are funny, Niemi could turn out to be a stud for years to come or just be playing over his head for the last few months. Leighton was a journeyman who was never in the right place at the right time or got hurt at the wrong time and never found a home. He may have found himself at age 28 or he may be a flash in the pan. History is littered with goalies that shined for a while and then never went anywhere. It’s a funny position and IMO the hardest spot to play in sports. In 40 years of playing hockey I still can’t understand most of the guys who play that spot. We had a one season wonder in college who was a walk on as a sophomore and we rode him to the regional finals. He didn’t interact with the players off the ice. We wore his walkman in the locker room before games and listened to chamber music, he had odd rituals but he was unreal in the net especially in big games. Then next season he decided he didn’t want to play.