Holiday, Young lead 76ers past Bobcats

First Posted: 3/25/2012 One shot after another kept bounding off Michael Leighton, almost as if this one night in Wilkes-Barre took him all the way back to the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs again.
In a sense, it did.
He looked as calm and cool and crafty turning away Wilkes-Barre/Scranton shots Friday as he once did during a magic carpet ride that whisked the Philadelphia Flyers into the Stanley Cup Final two years ago.
That is when Leighton really proved he could stand up to pressure.
"I've been in tough situations before," Leighton said.
He stepped in for the Flyers to complete a shutout Brian Boucher began before being injured in Game 5 against Boston in the second round of the playoffs. Then Leighton won the next two games as the Flyers became just the third team in NHL history to win a playoff series after falling behind 3 games to none.
Leighton didn't stop there.
He surrendered just seven goals in five games and pitched three shutouts in the Eastern Conference final against Montreal while taking the Flyers from a seventh seed to the Stanley Cup Final.
That's where his hot hand went ice cold.
Leighton struggled in the Stanley Cup Final, finishing with a goals-against average of 3.96 and a save percentage of just .876 as Chicago took the Cup from the Flyers in six games.
But he said he's better from the experience, even if after signing a two-year contract for $3.1 million, it didn't reward him with a permanent spot on an NHL team.
<hl2 class="subhead" style="subhead">Playing for the future</hl2>
He stands in goal these days for the Adirondack Phantoms, the Flyers' top minor league affiliate, knowing there's little chance for him to catch lightning in a bottle with Philadelphia again.
The Flyers seem set with Ilya Bryzgalov backed up by Sergei Bobrovsky in goal this season, and are right in the running for an Atlantic Division title and a top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.
Unless one of them goes down to injury, Leighton's chances of impacting Philadelphia's playoff chances look slim.
That leaves him battling for his hockey future.
"I'm pretty much playing for a contract next year. I'm up at the end of this year," Leighton, who will turn 31 in May, said. "I'd like to be in Philly next year, if not, show teams I can still play."
He sure showed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
His numbers are unspectacular, from his 22-23 record to a goals-against average of 2.68. But in a 1-0 shutout of the Penguins at Mohegan Sun Arena, Leighton stopped all 24 shots he faced, including a few in spectacular fashion. He flat-out robbed Alex Grant by snagging a wicked riser from point-blank range.
"An unbelievable save," Grant called it. "He's an NHL-caliber goalie."
The eye-catching performance took place in front of Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren, but Leighton said his second shutout of the season was more important for other reasons.
Mainly, because his Phantoms are fighting for an AHL playoff spot.
"We're getting down to the nitty-gritty," Leighton said. "We know we have to win. It gives you extra incentive. Really, the last five, 10 games, I've felt really good, been playing a lot better than I had been.
"This is the time of year I like."
 Whether he likes it or not, Leighton's unlikely to shoulder the playoff hopes of fast-rising team in Philadelphia this year. For his own good, he may as well do it somewhere.

Looking to rediscover the magic Paul Sokoloski Opinion