Turns out there are two pretty good goaltenders in the Penguins-Montreal Canadie
Marc-Andre Fleury showed up here Tuesday night at his hometown Bell Centre, made his presence felt in a big way and stole the show from Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak , not to mention a 2-0 win in Game 3.
Please tell me you aren’t surprised.
“He’s a gamer,” Penguins goaltending coach Gilles Meloche marveled afterward. “He wins games.”
Is there a better compliment for any athlete?
Fleury did to the Canadiens what he always seems to do at playoff time. He made the huge saves when the Penguins needed them most. A year ago, their run to the Stanley Cup was highlighted by one big stop he made in each series. The toe save on Philadelphia’s Jeff Carter in Game 2. The save to rob Washington’s Alex Ovechkin on a breakaway in Game 7. The sprawling stop to deny Carolina’s Eric Staal in Game 1. The final save on Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom as the clock ticked toward 0.00 to secure the championship in Game 7.
Well, if the Penguins go on to make it two Cups in a row this summer, they long will remember the save Fleury made against winger Tomas Plekanec on a Canadiens power play with fewer than four minutes left and the Penguins struggling to protect a 1-0 lead.
Actually, Fleury had made another pretty sweet stop a little more than four minutes earlier when he swooped across his crease to say no to a one-timer by Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri , who had burned him for three goals in the first two games. But it was his save on the Plekanec redirect that made all the sports highlight shows overnight.
Spectacular.
“He hadn’t stolen a game for us yet in the playoffs,” defenseman Brooks Orpik said. “He might have done that tonight.”
No mights about it.
“We needed a big game in a lot of ways — and there he was,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.