It’s about time Brian Boucher became Philadelphia’s number one goalie. Boucher has been playing behind newly-acquired Ray Emery for most of the season, but with Emery’s recent muscle tear leaving him off the ice for roughly six weeks, Boucher has been asked to step up and fill in the role as primary net-minder. With Emery out of the picture, Boucher has a chance to prove his worth. However, after a week of tests, Boucher is failing miserably.

Boucher was a first-round pick of the Flyers back in 1995, and since has made stops in Phoenix, Calgary, Chicago, Columbus, and San Jose before ultimately returning home this past summer. He has played the role of backup for most of his career. So far this season, Boucher has a 3-7-0 record, .903 save percentage and 2.53 goals against. They’re not terrible personal numbers, and actually are slightly better than Emery’s this season, but when the team in front of him can’t put the puck in the opposition’s net, Boucher needs to be better at keeping the puck out of his.

Emery, a 4th round draft pick by the Senators in 2001, was signed as a free agent in July by the Flyers, who made a flurry of moves this summer in the hopes of improving their team. They also picked up defensive heavyweight Chris Pronger from Anaheim in a trade, but so far that hasn’t been working out. With just four points in their last 12 games, the Flyers are plummeting down the standings in the east. They’re now dead last in their division, and are showing no signs of hope that their fans can grasp on to.

They say “it all starts in goal”, and for the Flyers, that’s certainly true. With their number one out for five more weeks and their number two playing like a number three, there appears to be no end to Philadelphia’s plummeting position in the east. Boucher needs to step up and take command of his team, and the rest need to respond. The only way the Flyers are going to climb out of this hole is by not only beating the teams they are “supposed” to beat, but also by stealing a few victories from those they aren’t. If they can do that, they just might avoid being only the second group of Flyers to miss the playoffs since Boucher was drafted.