Marc-Andre Fleury has always been one of the league’s best goaltenders. Being selected by the Golden Knights in the expansion draft definitely didn’t slow him down, it only motivated him to be even better.
Through the first five games of the playoffs, Fleury was unreal. The guy was inhuman, posting a 0.54 GAA and a .982 SV%, which is almost unheard of, especially in the playoffs.
In Game 2 against the Sharks, though, Fleury showed us that he is still human after all. He allowed four goals on 47 shots, which, even still, isn’t terrible. Fleury ended the game with a .915 SV% — a very human percentage.
He probably would’ve wanted the third San Jose goal back, though.
A Brent Burns wraparound isn’t exactly the best goal to let in. In fact, I think he could’ve had the game winner as well. But it happens.
Two of the Sharks’ four goals came on the power play. Simply put, it’s kinda hard to blame Fleury when the team in front of you can’t clear the puck.
Throughout the game, though, he did make a few dazzling saves to help out his team when they needed him the most.
I mean, just look at that series of saves he made to keep the Knights in the lead. Even look at this clutch save by Fleury on Goodrow.
After game two, his GAA increased to 1.00 and his SV% went down to a .967 in the 2018 playoffs. Those are still ridiculous stats, but could obviously fluctuate depending how the rest of the playoffs go.
At the end of the day, Fleury is still human, and it’s hard to expect much more out of your netminder, especially during the postseason. After having a game where he let in four goals, the criticisms seem a little unwarranted. The team in front of him didn’t play too well and he actually helped give the team every opportunity to win Game 2.
But anyways, tonight’s Game 3 and Fleury could prove everyone wrong — as he’s done all year. He could show all of us that he really isn’t human by making ten-bell saves and letting in two or fewer goals.
Then we’ll definitely need to test him for alien DNA.