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

The subtle little digs that Caps blogs love to take will be piling in at Marc-Andre Fleury...In fact, they've already begun:

It's a different Pens team now, to be sure... but it's the same Pens goalie.

To be sure, Marc-Andre Fleury's stat line against Washington this year is not very good, as Seth from Empty Netters broke it down:

1-3-0, 4.73 GAA and a .873 save percentage. 

Yeah, that's ugly.  But let's take a look at Fleury's 2007-08 numbers against a Washington Capitals team thatis largely the same then, as it was now--inherently more experienced now, but the key players remain:

2-0-0, 1.50 GAA and a .957 save percentage.

And in 2006-07?

3-0-0, 2.27 GAA and a .922 save percentage.

It's undisputable that Fleury (and the Pens defense in front of him) have had a rough time with the Capitals this year.  But historically, he's been good against Washington.  Also, Fleury's creating a great playoff body of work.

Throw that up against a guy who's got 12 NHL games (though an impressive record of 8-2--1).  Simeon Varlamov, without question, is the goalie of the future.  But he's a goalie who's never seen the strength of forwards in an NHL series that Pittsburgh will throw at him.  Marc-Andre Fleury has seen what Washington can do.

Given the choice, I'll gladly take the Flower I know over the young buck I do not.