Is Fleury's bounce back ability unusual this playoffs?

The Penguins are an unusual team.

Not really a finesse team, actually composed of high energy foot soldiers who play a vertical, smash-mouth game, with three exceptional precision centers and four defensemen who can bring it.

Their backchecking discipline is fleeting. It’s here, it’s there, it’s gone. Fleury faces more high percentage shots than most goaltenders of on elite teams. He’s going to look bad at times as a result, since plays in our end develop quickly and we are often playing desperation defense, leaving our feet, etc.

He’s like Fuhr in a way (although not nearly as good, of course), abandoned to his own reflexes in unpredictable fashion – we backcheck and pick up the trailer on period, leave the high slot gaping in the next – which often win out, because he’s got such quick feet, glove, and is so quick post to post.

He is not the world’s greatest angles player, but with our scattered team defense, a Gilles Meloche type would get burned coming out too far to cut down the angle.

I’d say Fleury is a remarkable athlete who has a superb glove and is fantastic at taking away the lower part of the net.

In today’s game, he’s elite.

Just want to say one more thing on the subject:

There is far too much emphasis or focus in hockey, the way it’s covered, I mean, on say, the first 40 feet of one’s own zone, and the last forty of the offensive zone.

It’s analyzed as if it’s table hockey. Even the camera has no patience – you rarely see the reason a play occurred, it’s development and what made it possible can happen 3-4 plays in advance. But because it’s a motion sport and faster than football, those patterns dissolve into others.

What happens is, people analyze it based on the final 40 feet or so. This is why goaltending doesn’t get understood.

To make a football analogy: if I’m a linebacker, and I have a great defensive line, I’m going to have time off the ball to pick up speed and get to the QB or runner. If my line stinks, those guys are going to be on me and I’m gonna be on my heels. This is actually grasped in football, it’s even rudimentary.

In hockey, a guy like Brodeur is called “the greatest goalie ever” with a straight face from commentators who are supposed to know better. Never mind that his “defensive line” is so good at slowing the “runner” down, the opposition enters the zone at a crawl, is left with bad ice to shoot from, and is not in position to get rebounds (much like we’ve dealt with when it comes to Halak).

Now, not saying Brodeur isn’t a very good goalie, or that Halak isn’t, but to base one’s judgment of a goalie out of context of team defense is just ridiculous. Goalie’s are NOT pitchers. They are symbiotically linked to their team’s defense.

Why the analysis on this is so off the mark and primitive miffs me, and it’s also irritating. The wrong conclusions are drawn because no one pays attention to what happens in the neutral zone and high in the defensive zone.

YET — but he will be. He has absolutely unbelievable skills and athletic ability, makes some saves that no other goalie can make (e.g. the one last night when he swept the puck away with his stick after the dive). He has so much upside with improvement in his initial concentration and stick-handling skills (when he can actually learn not to lose his stick). I used to shudder every time he went behind the net, but he’s dramatically improved, and I see Brodeur skills in his future.

The previous comment is very preceptive—how often is Fleury left out to dry by the D-men? But would you rather have our D — which is an intrinsic part of the offense — or Montreal’s? I really have appreciated Hal Gill in this series, but he adds nothing offensively, unlike LeTang, Gogo, Gonch, or Leopold (you might criticize the Poni trade, but Leopold more than makes up for it).

I don’t buy that Fleury isn’t elite.

Compared to what?

He was crucial to them winning the Cup in his second year, and his presence in his first year wasn’t incidental to them getting to the Cup final.

If Fleury isn’t “elite”, who is?

A stat that is standing out to me is that of the goalies that have a much lower GAA (a difference of at least 1 G) after a loss then after a win he has the lowest GAA after a win by far, basicly the other goalies in that list “bounce back” better because their stats are way worse then Fleury’s after a win, so to me he’s actually more consistent then most of the bounce back guys.