Marc-Andre Fleury vs. the Caps, reason to worry?

As the great Russian Ivan Drago said to Rocky " I must Break you" and “You will Loose”
The Pens put up a good fight against the fly boys but the Caps are a more talented team. It should be a great series. The Caps in 7.

Damn it Hooks, why you got to be bringing me down with all these facts?

I’m not concerned. MAF has come up huge in the playoffs when his team needed him. Sure, he had a bad game in Philly but you can’t really blame him for that one. That was a complete defensive breakdown. If the Pens are down and the responsibility takes on more of a “keep the Pens in it” sort of feel then I’d want no other goalie between the pipes.

Fleury has the pedigree and has walked the walk… Going into the playoffs (and this round) with a guy in the net who has been to the finals is a good thing…

The first three games between the Caps/Pens this year should be thrown out. The Pens were, forgive me, simply not competing for Therrien, and they played very little defense in front of Fleury.

Fleury has been terrific before. He’s also been putrid, as well, and sometimes both in the same series if I recall correctly.

I doubt he wins this series on his own, but I also doubt he loses it either.

The Penguins don’t need Fleury to be 1999 Dominik Hasek or 1986 Patrick Roy. He’s sensational in some games (see game 4 of the Flyers series), average in others. But if he’s good enough to win 4 against the Capitals then I could care less about the stats.

And while the Caps are talented I haven’t been that impressed by their postseason play. I’d be more worried about them if they’d swept the Rangers like I expected them to. It took Pittsburgh fewer games to eliminate Philadelphia, and the Flyers are a much more formidable team than the Rangers. Then again, predicting things you don’t control can be kind of tricky; ask Barry Melrose how that Sharks-Flyers Cup Final is shaping up. Either way, really looking forward to this series.

Over the last two seasons, no goalie has performed better in the playoffs than MAF. We all know playoff hockey is a whole other animal. That’s why it’s not surprising that Anaheim, a team that traditionally comes to play come playoff time, beat San Jose, a perennial regular season superstar.

the caps better watch some film on the new and improved. the pens use to sit back, now they are in your face on every inch of the ice, the rangers, they had great success doing this, only they lacked the talent to achive.. the pens on the other hand, do not lack the talent. i look for tyler kennady, staal line to be a huge problem for the caps…. if the caps plan on trying to carry the puck in, they will find out that this does not work. if they want even a slim chance of winning they better dump and chase.. and ovie better play def……
 pen’s in 6 maybe a sweep but i’ll give the caps 2 wins…..GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!

In MAF we trust!

Marc-Andre Fleury has backstopped a team in a Stanley Cup final. Semyon Varlamov has 12 games of NHL experience. That is the most telling difference between the teams. The thing is, though, Fleury had (to be charitable about it) an awful record in playoff series settings before last year…13-24, 3.62, .886, dating back to his days at Cape Breton. He’d won only two series in his playoff career — none as a professional (and he was unceremoniously benched for a series-ending game while with WBS).

Going into last year, Fleury could be said to be only going along for the ride with skaters who were much more talented and accomplished at their positions than he was at his. But he came up big, to his credit.

Varlamov is clearly further behind Fleury in terms of experience. But he’s also a guy with considerable tournament success, albeit in Russia and in world juniors. After watching him in each of his games with the Caps, I’m concerned about both his uncommon aggressivness in challenging shooters and the rebounds he occasionally yields. On the other side, Fleury had the Caps number…before this year. Was this year’s record an aberration, or did the Caps “solve” him in a similar fashion to the way they “solved” Henrik Lundqvist, who had a rather indifferent set of season numbers against the Caps, including playoffs (4-5-1, 3.19, .900)?

The wild card is probably more Varlamov than it is Fleury, because Fleury’s done it in this setting. Varlamov hasn’t even been in this setting yet. On that basis, alone, one would have to conclude that the Penguins have an advantage. But that’s not to say that it would be shocking if either Fleury had a difficult series (consistent with his regular season numbers against the Caps), or Varlamov stood on his ear (as he put it, consistent with his performance to date as a Cap).

This whole Varlamov situation reminds me of Jesus Price last year without the lovefest that Habnot fans tend to spew.

Anyone who looks at what Varlamov did in the first round and then concludes, “oh, yeah, he’ll do that against the Penguins, too” is deluded. Pittsburgh isn’t New York. Can he do it? You wouldn’t predict it (I won’t be), but it would be — technically — “possible.”

Varlamov is playing with house money at this point. I didn’t think he’d see a playoff game until 2011 (i.e., after Theodore — remember him? — left), that he’d be fighting with Michal Neuvirth at Hershey this year and next to see which of them would get a leg up in playing for the Caps (two more different goalies in terms of style you will never see). Truth is, the Caps are three-deep in goaltending prospects, as Braden Holtby appeared to have improved considerably since he was drafted by the Caps last June.

That it will ultimately come down to which goaltender outplays the other one. Fleury is going to be the reason the Pens win this series. The matchups between the teams are so close. I think the Pens have a slight advantage with their forwards. I think the Pens D is tougher and more physical but the Caps D moves the puck a little better. But Fleury is the key. Varlamov will be a top goaltender, no doubt, but Fleury is the man now.