MAF: The One Guy We Can't Lose

[penguins2946*]

Nope, he simply needs to NOT suck come playoff time. That's it. It's really not complicated, and there's no need for curing cancer.

Do I think Fleury's better this season than in past regular seasons? Absolutely. Do I think the goalie coach, head coach, system and talent on D has helped him immensely? Absolutely? Do I think Fleury is more relaxed as a goaltender now? Yes, I do.

Do I trust him in the playoffs? Nope, not yet. Please 'Show me' first.

To dismiss his putrid play in the Habs, Flyers, Isles series of the past would be wrong. As great as he's been in this regular season, so far, he was that much worse in those series. And I still remember the Nick Foligno goal last spring. That's fresh in my memory.

That all said, the one guy we can't lose is Sidney Crosby. Always has, always will be.

It's almost like he did that exact thing last year.

 

[Jag68Sid87]

It's almost like he did that exact thing last year.

Rinse. Repeat please. And avoid any meltdowns or horrific goals, while you're at it.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Nope, he simply needs to NOT suck come playoff time. That's it. It's really not complicated, and there's no need for curing cancer.

Do I think Fleury's better this season than in past regular seasons? Absolutely. Do I think the goalie coach, head coach, system and talent on D has helped him immensely? Absolutely? Do I think Fleury is more relaxed as a goaltender now? Yes, I do.

Do I trust him in the playoffs? Nope, not yet. Please 'Show me' first.

To dismiss his putrid play in the Habs, Flyers, Isles series of the past would be wrong. As great as he's been in this regular season, so far, he was that much worse in those series. And I still remember the Nick Foligno goal last spring. That's fresh in my memory.

That all said, the one guy we can't lose is Sidney Crosby. Always has, always will be.

Except for the fact that he did that last year and you still have half the boards wanting a Greaiss/Zatkoll tandem come PO time, lol.

 

[tom_servo]

At least a non-scary first round... He was fine last year on the whole, but flirted with catastrophe.

 

[Candyman]

MAF has had a great regular season to this point, but they would't have any problems if he went down.

If i was making a list of players the pens could least afford to lose MAF wouldn't be very high on my list.

I don't see how he can't be. Based on our roster tonight my list would look something like:
1. Malkin
2. Fleury
3. Crosby
Drop off
4. Letang
Bigger drop off
5. Hornqvist
6. Comeau
7. Kunitz
8. Despres
9. Scuderi
10. Farnham (At least while Downie is out)
11. Goc

And who cares after that...

 

[Jag68Sid87]

At least a non-scary first round... He was fine last year on the whole, but flirted with catastrophe.

That's exactly how I saw it, as well. Well said, tom.

 

[cheesedanish87]

I don't see how he can't be. Based on our roster tonight my list would look something like:
1. Malkin
2. Fleury
3. Crosby
Drop off
4. Letang
Bigger drop off
5. Hornqvist
6. Comeau
7. Kunitz
8. Despres
9. Scuderi
10. Farnham (At least while Downie is out)
11. Goc

And who cares after that...

I think its kind of ridiculous to put MAF over Sid.


MAF has had a great year, he got a 932 save percentage after 26 games, but that isn't the type of goalie he is, MAF has been in the league for 11 years, hes got a career save percentage of 911, which is a average save percentage for a average goalie.

 

[Human]

I think its kind of ridiculous to put MAF over Sid.


MAF has had a great year, he got a 932 save percentage after 26 games, but that isn't the type of goalie he is, MAF has been in the league for 11 years, hes got a career save percentage of 911, which is a average save percentage for a average goalie.

actually it's ridiculous to put him over Letang too.

 

[Candyman]

actually it's ridiculous to put him over Letang too.

Malkin replaces Sid better than Greiss or Zatkoff replace Fleury, that effects Fleury's value if lost.

Our depth at D is far better than our depth at Center so Yes Losing Fleury would hurt more than losing Letang, even with Martin, Erhroff, and Maata out.

 

[Human]

Malkin replaces Sid better than Greiss or Zatkoff replace Fleury, that effects Fleury's value if lost.

Our depth at D is far better than our depth at Center so Yes Losing Fleury would hurt more than losing Letang, even with Martin, Erhroff, and Maata out.

and how exactly do we know this?

 

[Gurglesons]

Except for the fact that he did that last year and you still have half the boards wanting a Greaiss/Zatkoll tandem come PO time, lol.

Did you happen to miss Game 4 against the Blue Jackets?

 

[Gurglesons]

Malkin replaces Sid better than Greiss or Zatkoff replace Fleury, that effects Fleury's value if lost.

Our depth at D is far better than our depth at Center so Yes Losing Fleury would hurt more than losing Letang, even with Martin, Erhroff, and Maata out.

I would love to see an all rookie D against a Boston or New York teams in the playoffs. This is probably the most ridiculous statement I've read on here in awhile. If Letang, Martin, Erhroff, and Maatta are all out we are easily losing any series in the playoffs.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

Did you happen to miss Game 4 against the Blue Jackets?

lol, my point exactly. MAF has 1 bad game and people wanna run him out of town. I'm pretty sure MAF is the only goalie to have a bad game in the POs last year. IIRC, Cup winner Quick went 16-0 with a S% of 1.00 and GAA of 0.

 

[ottawa]

Pretty solid and funny interview by him on RDS

 

[Sideline]

lol, my point exactly. MAF has 1 bad game and people wanna run him out of town. I'm pretty sure MAF is the only goalie to have a bad game in the POs last year. IIRC, Cup winner Quick went 16-0 with a S% of 1.00 and GAA of 0.

No, he has 3 or 4 awful years and people give him a short leash.

 

[cheesedanish87]

It looks like MAF is starting to play like MAF again, hes aloud 3 or more goals in 5 of his last 6 games.

 

[Asuna]

It looks like MAF is starting to play like MAF again, hes aloud 3 or more goals in 5 of his last 6 games.

I bet you were just itching to post that.

 

[ProgOg]

It looks like MAF is starting to play like MAF again, hes aloud 3 or more goals in 5 of his last 6 games.

And Pekka Rinne allowed 4 or more goals in 3 of his last 6 games.

If he still allows more than 3 when the defense is healthy again and the Penguins aren't getting outshot or allow more than 30 shots each game, I'll start worrying. His save percentage pretty much carried the Penguins last month and let them win games they shouldn't have. I don't think that right now he is as good as he often was during that stretch, though.

 

[cheesedanish87]

I bet you were just itching to post that.

I wasn't going to bump up this thread to post that, but since somebody else did i guess i couldn't resist.

And Pekka Rinne allowed 4 or more goals in 3 of his last 7 games.

If he still allows more than 3 when the defense is healthy again and the Penguins aren't getting outshot or allow more than 30 shots each game, I'll start worrying. His save percentage pretty much carried the Penguins last month and let them win games they shouldn't have. I don't think that right now he is as good as he often was during that stretch, though.

There is no doubt MAF has been great for the pens til recently, but over the course of an 82 game season players usually return to form.

 

[Klifton]

It looks like MAF is starting to play like MAF again, hes aloud 3 or more goals in 5 of his last 6 games.

Because that has NOTHING to do with the play of the guys in front of him at all. No, clearly the injuries and lesser play in front of him have nothing to do with it. There can be no other explanation. Injuries mean nothing. Good teams don't go through slumps. Good players don't have slumps either. It is all Flowers fault. He must be doing it on purpose. I bet he wears a Flyers shirt under his jersey.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

No, he has 3 or 4 awful years and people give him a short leash.

No, he had 2 awful years, one bad year and one year where both Sid and Geno were hurt and allowed 1 goal in game 7.

It looks like MAF is starting to play like MAF again, hes aloud 3 or more goals in 5 of his last 6 games.

How happy are you, lol? I'm sure having an AHL team in front of him had nothing to do with allowing more goals than usual.

THis is what our December looked like:

26th in G/G (2.14)
4th in GA/G (2.14)
30th in PP% (6.4%)
3rd in PK% (90.7%)
2nd in man-games lost (108)

But, lets ***** about him allowing a few extra goals than normal. I swear if he does win the Vezina the most vocal people against it will be from this board.

Why can't you (and others who love blame everything on MAF) be happy that he's having the best season of his life? You guys are acting like he's having a ****** season after every loss (and even some wins) when he's been arguably the 2nd best goalie in the league this year. It's pretty sad.

 

[cheesedanish87]

Because that has NOTHING to do with the play of the guys in front of him at all. No, clearly the injuries and lesser play in front of him have nothing to do with it. There can be no other explanation. Injuries mean nothing. Good teams don't go through slumps. Good players don't have slumps either. It is all Flowers fault. He must be doing it on purpose. I bet he wears a Flyers shirt under his jersey.

Like i kind of said in my last post over the course of an 82 game season players usually return to form, in the last 4 years MAF save percentage has been between 913 and 918, MAF wasn't going to all of a sudden post a 930 save percentage in his 11th season.

Its the same with Crosby, he hasn't been scoring many points til the TB game, but he has a long track record that tells you hes going to eventually break out over the course of an 82 game season.

 

[Klifton]

It seems strange to me that people can acknowledge the effect of coaching changes on the team in general, and ignore the effect on Flower. Dan Bylsma was the problem, but Gillies Meloche had nothing to do with it at all? Since Bales was promoted Flower has continually improved, both during the regular season, and the playoffs. (Granted that is a small sample size to date, but it is still relevant.) Not to mention that our D has been better in front of him under Johnston's system. And yet all this goes right out the window when discussing Flower. I just don't understand this.

 

[Klifton]

Like i kind of said in my last post over the course of an 82 game season players usually return to form, in the last 4 years MAF save percentage has been between 913 and 918, MAF wasn't going to all of a sudden post a 930 save percentage in his 11th season.

Its the same with Crosby, he hasn't been scoring many points til the TB game, but he has a long track record that tells you hes going to eventually break out over the course of an 82 game season.

To an extent sure, but there are a lot of other factors that are often lost, forgotten, or simply ignored by many people on this forum. Like the coaching changes, the improved defensive play in front of him, or the possession game that helps prevent teams from keeping steady pressure on him. Those kinds of improvements CAN have that kind of effect on a goalie's numbers. Sadly, some people, (and I am not pointing at anyone in specific here,) choose to ignore these things when discussing Flower.

 

[Human]

No, he had 2 awful years, one bad year and one year where both Sid and Geno were hurt and allowed 1 goal in game 7.

yeah, just because you keep repeating a lie like a broken record doesn't turn it into the truth... maybe in your case it works... here are the facts.

he had two attrocious series, the worst of any goalie since the 2004-2005 lock-out: the one against the Flyers in 2012 and the one against the Isles in 2013, which would have turned into the Flyers part II if we hadn't have Vokoun. he had an attrocious game seven against the Habs back in 2010, when Moen scored from the blue line on him and they had to put BJ in when they were four goals down already... he has been average or subpar against the Lightning too in 2011.

fun fact: the other worst playoff goalie performance since the lock-out has been Bryzgalov in 2012, and he managed to win the series against MAF.