Marc-Andre Fleury

[Bleedred]

I think this Vegas team is much better than the 03 Ducks. It isn’t all Fleury. He’s been a wall so far but the team in front of him is playing well too. Those similarities are pretty interesting though and I didn’t even think about it.

I thought the team looked pretty bad in a couple of these games against the Sharks, but Fleury stood on his head, Jones barely played average and Fleury faced more shots, more chances and certainly more higher quality chances. Of the 13 goals he allowed in the series, I can think of maybe 3-4 goals at most that he could have had, whereas out of the 18 goals that Jones allowed, I think he at least had a chance on about 7 of them.

 

[nbonaddio]

all i saw was alot of pitt fans saying how bad he was and to yank him for murray because he sucked. were they wrong?

Let's not play revisionist history here. Keeping Murray and exposing MAF was the correct and obvious thing to do. We should end that thread of discussion before it starts.

MAF was a lot of things in Pittsburgh. You can almost break it down by eras, really.

The Edzo era: Uber-athletic #1 overall pick that was thrown to the wolves in front of a ludicrously awful team, no goaltending coach and general Country Club-attitude around the team
The Therrien era: Team is better, still no goalie coach, relying on his athleticism above all else and some fair questions about his mental toughness/dedication to the game emerge; is spectacular in the 2008 playoffs
The Bylsma era: Athleticism is at its peak, Mike Bales is hired as goalie coach; regular seasons stabilize into a very-good-to-elite groove (2010-2016: 2.35/.919), playoffs are a disaster as Bylsma refuses/is unable to get the team to play any defense and MAF's meltdowns combine into a vicious cycle
The Johnston era: Years of working with Bales transform MAF into a fairly solid positional goalie; playoffs are good but small sample size, rest of Penguins hate Johnston and run him out of town
The Sullivan era: Run of very solid regular seasons continue until Murray comes along, throwing confidence into a tailspin; is a non-factor in the 2016 cup run but is absolutely critical and clutch in 2017 as the Pens absolutely do not win without him

So: stable regular-season goaltender that relied too much on athleticism early in his career but became more sound when the Pens actually hired a goalie coach, despite the best efforts of Bylsma to f*** everything up. Playoffs vacillated from excellent (2008, 2014, 2017) to god-awful (2010-2013). How Pens fans ultimately feel about him depends on whether you cast more blame on Bylsma or on MAF for the playoff failures between 2009-2015.

He is a beloved member of the team and the community throughout.

The difference in him now and the Bylsma era of only five years ago is incredibly stark. He's just as athletic as he ever was, but his positioning and rebound control are vastly different. Combine that with a good defensive team and lots of confidence, and you're seeing the results. He's peaking later than most due to the Edzo/Therrien eras, but I think you're probably looking at 3-4 more years of 2.30/.920, ending up 3rd in all-time wins.

 

[TomasHertlsRooster]

I thought the team looked pretty bad in a couple of these games against the Sharks, but Fleury stood on his head, Jones barely played average and Fleury faced more shots, more chances and certainly more higher quality chances. Of the 13 goals he allowed in the series, I can think of maybe 3-4 goals at most that he could have had, whereas out of the 18 goals that Jones allowed, I think he at least had a chance on about 7 of them.

Just like their series against Edmonton last year, the Sharks were probably the slightly better team, but not by nearly enough of a margin to say that they deserved to win instead.

I really don’t think either of these teams was a Cup Contender.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

Nothing beats Giguere 2003.

That wAs beyond godly.

Brodeur set the all time playoff shutout record with 7 in 2003 and won the cup and the losing goalie got the conn smythe.

Because he was that good. He was on jay Leno and everything if anyone remembers that playoffs it made the semi recent runs by smith kiprusoff halak quick Thomas and others look just “good.”

And I watched Patrick Roy in 93 and dom Hasek take mediocre sabres teams to conf and cut finals.

In saying all that fleury is doing something special. Let’s see if he does this against the jets or preds tho

 

[albator71]

Nothing beats Giguere 2003.

That wAs beyond godly.

Brodeur set the all time playoff shutout record with 7 in 2003 and won the cup and the losing goalie got the conn smythe.

Because he was that good. He was on jay Leno and everything if anyone remembers that playoffs it made the semi recent runs by smith kiprusoff halak quick Thomas and others look just “good.”

And I watched Patrick Roy in 93 and dom Hasek take mediocre sabres teams to conf and cut finals.

In saying all that fleury is doing something special. Let’s see if he does this against the jets or preds tho

And let's not forget what Ron Hextall did in 1987, his performance in the final versus one of the best offensive team in history was spectacular. he pushed the edmonton oilers to a 7th game. he won the conny smyth that year.

 

[Chimpradamus]

Well, he certainly had puck luck in game 6 against SJ, that's for sure. I've never seen so many shots in the posts and bar without a goal. Without puck luck there, SJ could've scored 4.

 

[Alwalys]

Well, he certainly had puck luck in game 6 against SJ, that's for sure. I've never seen so many shots in the posts and bar without a goal. Without puck luck there, SJ could've scored 4.

in a history of unluckiness, that was one of most unlucky games i've ever seen the Sharks play.

 

[end]

If Vegas wins, and especially if Fleury wins the Smythe, he is a HOF lock. You can't win 4 Cups as a goalie in this age and be out.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

If Vegas wins, and especially if Fleury wins the Smythe, he is a HOF lock. You can't win 4 Cups as a goalie in this age and be out.

He was the backup for two of them. Not an automatic lock, I think.

 

[end]

He was the backup for two of them. Not an automatic lock, I think.

If someone managed to be the backup on 4 Cup wins I'd think they'd be a lock. Clearly they'd have to be the greatest backup of our time!

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

If someone managed to be the backup on 4 Cup wins I'd think they'd be a lock. Clearly they'd have to be the greatest backup of our time!

Yes, but you don't see backups being inducted into the Hall of Fame. I like Fleury; don't get me wrong, but I just don't think he's an automatic lock after winning two Cups as a starter.

 

[Rick Kehoe]

He was the backup for two of them. Not an automatic lock, I think.

We should remember MAF played a key role as a backup in two of those Cup wins. Fleury is building a compelling case for the HOF, and appears to have several years remaining in his outstanding career. Overall, he's been strong in the postseason, people forget he's played more postseason games than most.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

We should remember MAF played a key role as a backup in two of those Cup wins. Fleury is building a compelling case for the HOF, and appears to have several years remaining in his outstanding career. Overall, he's been strong in the postseason, people forget he's played more postseason games than most.

Maybe later, but not based on up to this year.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

And let's not forget what Ron Hextall did in 1987, his performance in the final versus one of the best offensive team in history was spectacular. he pushed the edmonton oilers to a 7th game. he won the conny smyth that year.

Hextall was great no doubt. But he would also just take the puck and shoot it into the stands when he got in trouble. They eventually had to change the rules to stop this. He was one of the best at handling the puck of all time. And I believe he was the first goalie to actually shoot the puck into an opposing net.

 

[Bonesy9]

Maybe later, but not based on up to this year.

Pretty spectacular backup as he is 11th in all-time wins for the regular season.

Also, is already top 10 in playoff wins all time and tied for 5th in playoff shutouts all time.

The Pens starting goalie must have really sucked for their backup to play that much.

He also started 15 games last year for the Penguins in the postseason.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

He was the backup for two of them. Not an automatic lock, I think.

He was the back-up for one of them. The Penguins outright would not have been in a position to win the Cup last year without Fleury. I can't emphasize enough about how low expectations were heading into the playoffs last year without both Murray & Letang...Fleury's play acted as a catalyst for that team.

Both goalies deserve a lot of credit for last year's win. Selfishly it sucks that expansion forced a move, but I'm ecstatic for Fleury.

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

He was the back-up for one of them. The Penguins outright are not in a position to win that Cup last year without Fleury. Both goalies deserve a lot of credit for last year's win. Selfishly it sucks that expansion forced a move, but I'm ecstatic for Fleury.

Yes, I hope he makes the Hall of Fame.

 

[ChanceVegas]

I think what's lost in the Fleury discussion is the Knights are playing really, really good team defense in front of him. Especially in the games when he got shutouts.

VGK has been an above average to excellent defensive team all season. That's a really big part of MAF's resurgence.

 

[ColdSteel2]

I think what's lost in the Fleury discussion is the Knights are playing really, really good team defense in front of him. Especially in the games when he got shutouts.

VGK has been an above average to excellent defensive team all season. That's a really big part of MAF's resurgence.

This.

Goalies other than MAF:

22–11-3 .897 SV%

Vegas is a playoff team even with bad goaltending. Fleury is the difference between being a good team and one of the best teams in the league.

 

[nhlfan9191]

We should remember MAF played a key role as a backup in two of those Cup wins. Fleury is building a compelling case for the HOF, and appears to have several years remaining in his outstanding career. Overall, he's been strong in the postseason, people forget he's played more postseason games than most.

Fleury went 0-1 in one of those cup runs. I wouldn’t call that contributing.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

I think what's lost in the Fleury discussion is the Knights are playing really, really good team defense in front of him. Especially in the games when he got shutouts.

VGK has been an above average to excellent defensive team all season. That's a really big part of MAF's resurgence.

Most definitely. Fleury is playing behind a defensive system for just the second time in his career (and Johnston's system was just straight rubbish, so it barely counts).

 

[Vancouver Canucks]

This.

Goalies other than MAF:

22–11-3 .897 SV%

Vegas is a playoff team even with bad goaltending. Fleury is the difference between being a good team and one of the best teams in the league.

He's been pretty lucky with the Sharks hitting the posts most of the time in Game 6, though.

 

[IceNeophyte]

Just like their series against Edmonton last year, the Sharks were probably the slightly better team, but not by nearly enough of a margin to say that they deserved to win instead.

I really don’t think either of these teams was a Cup Contender.

Slightly better? Sharks were going to destroy the Knights, remember? The word was, "destroy."

The Sharks were not the better team. 3-1 regular season, 4-2 playoffs.

 

[IceNeophyte]

He's been pretty lucky with the Sharks hitting the posts most of the time in Game 6, though.

If you want to start counting posts as goals, then Vegas won game 2 and there was never a need for last night's game.

The object of the game is to get the puck in the net, not close to it.

 

[westc2]

He's been pretty lucky with the Sharks hitting the posts most of the time in Game 6, though.

You know...hitting the post means you shot wide, right? Goalies aren't trying to stop the puck from hitting posts.