PITTSBURGH, Pa – How is it that a goaltender who led his team to last spring’s Stanley Cup Final and has made three series-turning saves in the first two rounds of this year’s tournament is widely considered the second-best goalie in the Eastern Conference Final?
Well, when said netminder is going up against a young man with a Stanley Cup title and Conn Smythe Trophy on his resumé, not to mention six straight playoff series wins to start his career and a 4-0 record in Game 7’s, you have your answer.
But if Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury is destined to ride shotgun next to Carolina’s Cam Ward in the run-up to this semifinal clash on the eastern side of the NHL’s bracket, let it be known that the 24-year-old Penguin has enjoyed his share of clutch moments this postseason, much like his 25-year-old counterpart in red, black and white.
“He’s proven he can play in the big game,” Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said Sunday at Mellon Arena. “Whether we need him to win the game or not, he’s always there for us. Our players know that and the coaching staff knows that.”
To find the arguably most significant of Fleury’s larcenous episodes, one only needs to rewind to Pittsburgh’s previous contest in these playoffs, a 6-2 road thrashing of the Washington Capitals in Game 7. The wide final margin belies the tense moments early, the first of which being Alex Ovechkin’s breakaway try that Fleury stifled with his glove hand to keep the Caps from seizing the game’s first emotional spike.
“If I can make the key saves at the right times and keep the momentum going for our team, that’s my job and I’ll try to keep doing that in the next series,” Fleury said after an hour-long practice at the team’s facility in Southpointe, Pa.
Add that highlight to a pair of critical stops in the Penguins’ first-round triumph over Philadelphia – a post-to-post right toe save on Jeff Carter to prevent the Flyers from clinching Game 2 and evening the series and a lightning-quick left pad stop with Joffrey Lupul hoping to tie Game 6 with just a few minutes left – and the lithe Francophone has already authored more signature moments in this postseason than he did in a much smoother ride to the final round last year.
“You can’t not say he hasn’t made the save when we needed the save,” Bylsma said.
On the other side of the rink, the remarkably dependable Ward has ridden a resurgent regular season to a high-level of postseason play that is reminiscent of his performance during the Hurricanes run to the Cup in 2006, his rookie year.
Manning a position that customarily treats its youngsters cruelly, Ward has overcome a couple of regressive seasons to become a positionally-sound stalwart that has his coach Paul Maurice saying things like “we take him for granted back there” at a recent press conference.
Conversely, Fleury’s growth has been more of slow boil dating back to his premature debut with one of the worst teams of the decade, the 2003-04 Penguins who finished last but lost the lottery and No. 1 pick Ovechkin to Washington. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, Evgeni Malkin was available at No. 2 that summer, giving the team three first-overall-caliber talents in Fleury (first pick in 2003), Malkin and Crosby (first in 2005).
Unlike the briskly blooming Crosby and Malkin, the man known as “Flower” had to persevere through bouncing around with his junior team, the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton club and the NHL before finally sticking in the big league at the end of the 2005-06 season, just as Ward was set to help Carolina crash the party.
While still searching for the elite level of calm consistency that made Ward’s game so airtight this year, Fleury has gone to great lengths to eliminate the excessive hyperactivity that kept him from succeeding as early as some thought he should.
Now he is four wins away from becoming the first Penguins goalie to backstop his team to consecutive berths in the Stanley Cup Final since Tom Barrasso pulled it off, taking home the Chalice both times in 1991 and ’92. Of course, wonder of wonders, the fiery Barrasso currently serves as goaltending coach for, you guessed it, the Hurricanes.
Courtesy of a pair of lengthy playoff runs for each, Fleury and Ward have posted similar stats in tournament play. They each have 23 wins, albeit Fleury has one more game played (38 to 37) and the Alberta-native Ward has the edge in save percentage (.923 to .915), goals-against average (2.17 to 2.45) and shutouts (4 to 3).
The above numbers are comparable, but as long as Ward continues to lead in Stanley Cups, Fleury should consider himself the underdog.
You’ll get no complaint from him until it changes.
“As long as we win, it doesn’t matter if people talk about me,” Fleury said. “(In 2006) he was able to win it but we’ll see this time if we can change it up.”
Contact matt.gajtka@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.