Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s bouncing puck misplay leads to Flyers’ goal (VIDEO)
In fairness to Marc-Andre Fleury, the puck is made of rubber. And we hear the ice can be slippery.
After the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 1-0 lead in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal, the Philadelphia Flyers did what they've done all series: Responded, and watched the Penguins' netminder help them mightily in that response.
After Fleury gave up a bad rebound on a Claude Giroux shot, neither Jordan Staal nor Matt Niskanen could corral the puck before Max Talbot got a stick on it. The bouncing puck eluded Fleury's glove and meekly entered the back of the net at 6:44 of the first period for a shorthanded goal.
Danny Briere scored 1:35 later to give the Flyers an early lead. Briere scored another with 8:15 left in the first. Ouch.
Before the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I called Fleury of the NHL's best money goalies in the postseason. He was the backbone of their title run in 2009. He was rarely the reason they'd lose a series.
He was bad in three of four losses last postseason to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Against the Philadelphia Flyers … well, he entered the game with a 5.45 GAA and an .804 save percentage.
He's been a sieve and a liability, and this series is only close because his counterpart Ilya Bryzgalov has been nearly as sieve-ish at times.
