radapex
Registered User
For a lot of the people analyzing Fleury vs Backup stats, I remember it being pretty obvious last year that the team played a better defensive game when Vokoun was in net, and at times I've seen that with Zatkoff. It's almost like the players, whether they're right or wrong, trust Fleury more and take more gambles and push more. We have to watch out when we just start throwing around stats, because I'm not sure they're both playing with the same "team" out in front of them.
Sunday's game against the Flyers was actually a good example of this. Fleury played very well but the Flyers scored 3 goals in 15 shots through 13:41. Zatkoff goes in, doesn't see a shot for the rest of the period and only faces 20 between the 2nd and 3rd periods. Once that goalie change was made, the team tightened up and play a more sound game.
This isn't limited to the Pens, either. Most teams will bear down and tighten up when their backup is in the game.
I don't think Fleury is a great goalie, but I don't think he's bad either. He's middle third/2nd quartile starter with a knack of losing it in big games which is where the criticism becomes valid.
Like I said, he's your average starter. Not great, not terrible. He'll go out and play 65 games, win 40, and finish mid-pack statistically.
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