Anyone who listened to the show this morning (or read the last part of my last blog entry) will know that I thought Marc-Andre Fleury didn't have as bad of a game as people will suggest.
My thought was that he was the victim of poor defense from Sergei Gonchar on the first goal, the victim of a great shot from Chris Neil and poor defensive coverage on Goal #2, a victim of bad luck on Goal #3 by Chris Kelly, a victim of a great screen by Mike Fisher and poor defensive coverage on Goal # by Erik Karlsson and then the fifth one...well, I don't have any defense for that one, that was bad... :-)
But then I realized...maybe I should talk to someone who has played the position at a high competitive level and get their thoughts on it...maybe I would learn something about the position...
I looked around the building and really couldn't find anyone, but sitting at our 20-20 desk was good ol' Opie himself, Jonny Abbott...that's the guy I need!
Not only did he play goaltender at a pretty high level...he managed to do that while wearing no-cup in the process...he also has easily supplanted Kenny Walls as the Number One goaltender for the Team 1200 Hockey Club and in media hockey in general...I won't find anyone else with any more credibility than that...
So, I took away Jonny from doing his actual job to help me dissect all 9 goals in the hockey game last night...here was a snipet of his thoughts
Goal 1 by Evgeni Malkin to make it 1-0 Pens:
Jonny: Tough Spot for Elliott since there's lots of traffic in front. He was actually in position to make the save if he had stuck his glove out, but he just couldn't see the puck coming to react in time
Goal 2 by Peter Regin to tie the game at 1:
Jonny: Bad rebound by Fleury, but you expect Gonchar to be a little more physical with Regin. He still can't kick the rebound out to that spot though.
Goal 3 by Chris Neil to make it 2-1 Sens:
Jonny: That's a bad one for Fleury. He went down early. Good shot by Neil, but you can't let that puck in on that side, especially in a tie game where you're trying to get the momentum on your side.
Goal 4 by Chris Kelly to make it 3-1 Sens:
Jonny: Nothing you can do there...move on...actually, did you notice that the 3rd line was out there for the power-play?
Me: We talked about it and it just hit me now...that's pretty ridiculous that I didn't even notice that...LOL
Goal 5 by Evgeni Malkin to make it 3-2 Sens:
Jonny: Can't really do much about that since Phillips let him walk in to be that close, plus it's deflects off his leg.
Goal 6 by Erik Karlsson to make it 4-2 Sens:
Jonny: Hard to blame Fleury here. First off, he stuck having to peek through a terrific screen by not only Fisher, but the Pittsburgh defenceman as well. So, he doesn't know where the puck is. Then the puck is shot and doesn't even hit him. If you look close, you'll see that it hits a leg in front and caroms to one side. That's why Fleury is so slow to react to it. He's waiting for the puck to hit him and then react. So, for all he knows, the puck could still be at the point. Once he realizes where it is, it's too late. If he was in the butterfly position instead of doing the splits to cover the bottom part, he would have had a much better chance to getting across, but because he's doing the splits, he can't get across nearly as quick. Tough goal for Fleury.
Goal 7 by Craig Adams to make it 4-3 Sens:
Jonny: Bad goal for Elliott. Yes, the shot was accurate, but if he had the right angle, that's not an issue at all. He has to be much more aggressive with the shooter. Does he even have a passing outlet that Elliott has to worry about?
Me: I thought there was a trailer, but I'm not sure how close he is to the play (He's actually nowhere to be found...)
Jonny: Yep, no other option, so Elliott just has to concentrate better on that one...
Goal 8 by Jarkko Ruutu to make it 5-3 Sens:
Me: Here's the one that I thought that was the worst for Fleury
Jonny: Actually, that's one that people shouldn't be so hard on him about. That's a tough save for him to make. First off, the defence should never let that pass from Neil get across like that, but once it does, Fleury has so much ice to cover in one push to get in the right position. He actually pushes off enough to get close to the right spot. Not too many goaltenders in the world can do that. Just unfortunate for him that the puck managed to go through him.
I'm pretty surprised from that response, but it does put things into a little perspective for me...
Goal 9 by Alex Goligoski to make it 5-4 Sems:
Jonny: Can I go back to work now? :-)