I’m not sure if Marc-Andre Fleury decided to swing by Karma when the Penguins arrived in Jersey Saturday night, but whatever he did, he looked like a completely different goalie than he did against the Bruins 24 hours earlier.
Fleury gave up three goals on 12 shots and after the Devils scored shorthanded 2:38 into the second, Fleury’s day was done. And when you give the Devils a three-goal lead to work with, you’ve got a situation. It’s pretty much impossible to comeback from one goal down let alone three when Jersey goes into shutdown mode, and this one ended up 5-2.
Even though Fleury has been a beast between the pipes the past month, it was a little confusing to see him start Sunday after the huge win in Boston. It’s not the first time Fleury’s started on back-to-back days but he’s got a reputation for not playing his best games while the sun is still out. Plus, with the way Brent Johnson played in his last start, you’d think Dan Bylsma would’ve wanted to keep Johnny’s confidence on the upswing.
Right off the bat, you could tell Fleury was in for a rough day. Just over two minutes into the game, he misplayed the puck behind the net and it led to the Devils first shot…and first goal. Fleury came into the game playing his best hockey of the year but he’s also been handling the puck worse than he has in a long time – I thought he fixed that problem years ago.
The Devils ended up taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission and when the second period started they almost scored just as quickly as they did in the first. At 2:28, Dainius Zubrus shoveled a shorthanded rebound past a laid out Fleury. Fleury probably should’ve been able to hold the post and keep the puck out but the scoring chance chould’ve never happened to begin with. The Devils dumped the puck on the penalty kill and while Paul Martin was retreating to grab it, he got absolutely raped from behind by Ilya Kovalchuk…no call; that led to a turnover, a shot, a rebound, a 3-0 Jersey lead, and an early exit for Fleury.
Matt Niskanen kept it from turning into a Pauly D sized blowout with a power play goal right after the Kovalchuk rapejob. He sniped a ont-timer past Martin Brodeur from a great pass out of the corner by Cal O’Reilly…welcome to the Pens, kid.
Johnson gave up his only goal of the game mid way through the second to put the Devils up 4-1 so when Geno Malkin scored another power play goal almost 12 minutes into the third, the Pens had run out of time. It’s almost impossible to comeback from a three-goal deficit to Jersey in less than 10 minutes – they’re not the Maple Leafs.
An empty netter later and the Pens dropped their second in three games. Bylsma better rally the troops quick because after two games in 24 hours, the Pens only have one day off before they finish off their road trip in Montreal. You’ve got to think Fleury will get the start and hopefully bounce back from this one, but Johnny’s got to get the nod this weekend when the Pens play back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday again.
Good news though: it looks like Jordan Staal and Simon Despres could be back really soon, and Despres could return as early as Tuesday. If the Pens start getting some of their injured skaters back, it could add a huge boost to the team.
One is better than zero, boys.
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