Fleury's numbers under Johnston:
2.21 GAA, .927 save%
(53 goals against, 730 shots, 1438 minutes played)
Fleury's numbers under Sullivan:
2.34 GAA, .916 save%
(79 goals against, 935 shots, 2027 minutes played)
So yeah, Fleury's numbers were much better under Johnston's defensive shell system, and returned to his typical average numbers under Sullivan.
Find me a long list of goalies who thrived in a more wide open style of hockey, vs a trap and clog system. You won't.
Cam Talbot is the only other goalie with 5 starts this year. Lots of offensive firepower in Edmonton, not a defensive first system and what has he done?
151 saves on 167 shots for a whopping .904 SV% and 3.32 GAA.
What about Martin Jones over 4 games?
.887 and and 2.79
And here we have Fleury, with no Crosby in front of him, he was missing Letang the past game+, as well as other regular starters at various points and yet has managed a very respectable .920 SV% on on a league leading 160 shots against. And we've had what two or three 5-3 goals against scored on us already? Really hard to blame any goalie for giving up goals in those situations or a few others (like the Montreal game where we left a guy unchecked go right to the front of the net for basically a tap in on a feed from the corner?. Take away goals like that, which are hardly on MAF and he'd be right near the top in the major statistical metrics.
Just as I predicted in the post game thread vs SJ, almost nobody gave a + or shout out to MAF for keeping Pittsburgh alive in a game where he was left out to dry (more than just 1 game as well if we're being honest) by his D and still saved 32 of 34 shots I believe off the top of my head.
I didn't see much praise from opening night when he rebounded tremendously from letting in an early goal, where in a few years past, he probably would have wilted completely. I was at the game and MAF was the main reason we finished the night with 2 points. Anybody claiming different is simply a hater.
Games like Washington (opening night) or last night vs SJ would have been Murray love fests if the latter was in net. Every other goal MAF lets in is some mythical backbreaking affair. I'm not exaggerating, you can go look up old threads and scroll through a million examples. It's absurd the double standard that exists.
And as I said in the game thread and prior times, I'm a massive Murray fan. I've said countless times I firmly believe he is and will be here long term. I bet I'm one of the very few that posts here semi regularly that actually watched Murray more than a handful of times live, in the AHL, because I'm fortunate to live close enough to Wilkes Barre and Hershey to attend a fair amount of games. The kid isn't somebody I saw for the first time late last winter. I've been watching him since he was busting records as a 20 year old in the A.
But I also have been around long enough to remember the Mario/JJ years and then the subsequent ass clown times between those fellas and the arrival of 87. I'm not a MAF apologist or fanboy. I just wish fans would stop being so emotional regarding MAF or at the very least give the guy some damn credit when he actually does positive things for us instead of only bashing him when he doesn't. And recognize that he really was a huge part of the turnaround of this franchise in the mid to late 2000's.
I also find it comical that people ***** about his flopping and more or less unorthodox style. It's what he's largely done his entire career. Maybe some fans here were to young to truly remember him when he first came into the league given that was over a decade ago. But I generally think people, and society in large, have very short term and selective memories. Not just in sports.
His athleticism has been his calling card and he's not far from the time you start seeing the vast majority of goalies lose some of that ability. To be honest, I think he's taking far less risk behind and around the net in general which were huge complaints and rightfully so (I think Bales deserves much credit). His tracking has been spotty in a few games, but he's fighting through that for the most part and really hanging in there in the years from say 2010 through 2013 or so, when the chokes and wilting happened quite regularly.
MAF is not a calm netminder. He never really was. The worst of MAF has long come and gone. We know the series, the years (more so postseasons) where he really was putrid. Pretending that MAF isn't at least an above average to good regular season goalie for long stretches of his career is absurd. Think back to last year. Is anyone going to seriously argue that while the team was a dumpster fire through early December, that MAF wasn't the main reason we weren't literally in ****ing last or second to last in the East?
MAF has never really been "elite". At least not for any long stretch. And I don't see any sane fans saying that.
Many fans hear Steigy and Errey's (or the journalists) constant slobbering of MAF and that seeps into their psyche. Those guys are clouded by their own homerism but also because they're paid to sugar coat crap (especially the TV crews) even if they go way overboard by most standards). Don't let their nonsense skew your judgement.
He is what he is. A guy who will let in some rough goals. He'll make ridiculous moves and make you pull your hair out. But he's still a solid goalie most nights out (with tremendous and putrid performances mixed in) and he's a tremendous presence off th ice by all accounts. Those aren't very debatable, at least in the past 2-3 years, especially when looking at the on ice product.
Right now, of any goalie with at least 3 starts, he's 7th in the league in SV% and he's faced more shots than anyone (many high quality scoring chances too), again on a injury plagued team. Obviously those numbers will be fluid, as we play more games, but he's been quite solid and people should be happy with that.
I'm extremely glad JR kept Flower around. As I said all summer, it didn't stop our GM from locking up Murray and given Murray went down, unfortunately, allowed us to ice a solid starting goalie instead of Mike Condon or a vastly unproven Jarry in the meantime. And it allows us not to have to ice Murray more then he needs to be coming off a very long season for all the Pens. It's why that Players Tribune piece JR wrote about the hardships of being a GM is so telling in a situation like the goalie tandem "mess"
in Pittsburgh right now. Most of the folks here wanted to dump MAF for anything really at the earliest possible moment and didn't stop to think about the ramifications of that decision. It's real easy to sit behind a keyboard and make the right calls.
