Since coming back from injury, Lehner was 9-0-1 until the last three games, and one of those three games was a 2-1 loss to Arizona. Yes he stunk in regulation in the game we saw but he was big in OT and as a result the team won. Okay fine, the Minnesota game was ugly. Fine, he isn’t perfect. Nobody is. So what?
If Fleury starts every playoff game, it won’t be because Lehner was bad. It will be because Fleury had an amazing year.
Some of the comments remind me of some discussions I had with a Pittsburgh fan in 2018. He didn’t care about how Fleury played all year and called Fleury a choker because he lost 4 straight in the Finals and said Pittsburgh was right not to keep him (lol). I’m sure he thought Fleury choked in game 7 against the Sharks too.
Lehner himself says that he has had moments that look really bad, and his word for goals let in is "embarrassing"
Even when we've won with him, there are things about his technique and positioning that are just off. He draws himself way too far off the crease when protecting a side. He doesn't get anything close to a tight butterfly with his pads sealed. In fact, in one goal last night, he had one leg in butterfly and the other knee up, leaving a gaping hole through which they scored. When he overbites and ends up laying on the ice, he takes way too long to recover, leaving the net a wide open target.
I dont think it's a "throw the baby out with the bathwater" situation. It's a compressed schedule, and even if it is three or days between games, if the team isn't practicing because they just played a game last night, how can Panda take the shots he needs to work out his problems?
Flower has bad streaks too, and I hope this is what it is. Until Panda works it out, I really think they should stay with Flower until he starts fraying at the edges himself. Give Panda some time and pressure to fix it.