Putting the Flower in a Vezina Trophy
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For whatever reason, it's almost taboo to mention Marc-Andre Fleury in the same breathe as the Vezina. With Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin wreaking havoc on opponents, goaltending isn't the focus with the Pittsburgh Penguins -- or is it?
Look at Fleury
here. Look at Fleury’s numbers across the board – 41 wins, 2.24 GAA, .919 save percentage. Look at how many games he’s started (59). Look at the all of the goalies' numbers
here. If you ever watch Pittsburgh play, you know that the Flower gets strung out more times than a heroin junkie.
It’s no mistake he ranks in the top 10 shots against. Among those goalies, Fleury has a better goals-against average than Pekka Rinne (2.41), Cam Ward (2.82) and Miikka Kiprusoff (2.33). Only LA's Jonathan Quick has a better GAA (1.98). Seeing that much Vulcanized rubber can wear a goaltender out. But not Fleury.
You look at the Penguin netminder’s primary competition for the Vezina. Henrik Lundqvist? The Rangers goalie is having a strong year but March has been a downer for the King. Lundqvist has allowed three goals in seven of 10 March starts.
You want consistency? The Flower has given up more than three even-strength goals only one time in 59 starts. That’s better than Los Angeles netminder, Jonathan Quick (3), or Lundqvist (4). There’s something to be said about keeping your team in the game.
Quick might be Fleury’s biggest Vezina competition by folks that simply look at numbers without the stories behind them. No doubt Quick boasts an outstanding goals-against average, but look at his team’s style of play. The Kings only have a plus-11 goal differential, scoring 175 while allowing 164. Their entire profile is built around low-scoring games on a nightly basis.
Pittsburgh’s goal differential of plus-58 is second behind Boston’s plus-60. With Fleury starting, the differential is a plus-68. Fleury doesn’t have the luxury of a Tuukka Rask-type backup like Tim Thomas did (until March 3 when he got hurt).
No, Brent Johnson and his 3-7-2 mark, 3.17 GAA and .882 save percentage illustrate just how good the Flower has been. Rookie Brad Thiessen gave up eight goals alone in his most recent start, so we won’t even go there.
There’s little doubt that a full season of Brian Elliott or Jaroslav Halak would give Fleury a run for his money as the NHL’s top goalie. Unless St. Louis writes in its next scorecard “Brian-Halak” or "Jaroslav Elliott," however, there’s no way the Blues win a Vezina. Elliott has made only 33 starts; Halak, 43.
Detroit’s Jimmy Howard is also a possibility. He’s definitely made a big turnaround from 2010-11. Howard has a 2.15 GAA and .920 save percentage. He’s started in seven fewer games than Fleury and hasn’t been healthy all season long. Howard has won seven fewer games, too.
One area that shows a goaltender’s competence is the shootout. That’s as naked as a goalie can get without taking off clothes. Fleury leads the league with nine shootout victories against only two losses. His save percentage of .769 is superior to King Lundqvist’s (.720) or Quick’s (.667). In fact, Quick is really exposed by the shootout. He’s stopped only 30 of 45 chances. Fleury, meanwhile, has gone 30-for-39.
Fleury’s 22-2-2 current stretch is the kind of streak that wins Vezina’s, but detractors point out that anyone can tend behind a team so offensively dominant like the Pens.
That argument might actually hold weight if Fleury hadn’t kept Pittsburgh churning along for the first four months before the team regained its health.
Those with a short memory should consider that the Pens scored five goals only six times in Fleury’s 30 starts from the beginning of the season through Dec. 31. It’s not like the current version of Pittsburgh, a team that has scored five goals six times since Feb. 25 for Fleury.
We can point to objective numbers, like Fleury’s leading .916 save percentage on the power play (among qualified tenders). We can look at subjective factors, like his consistency, how he rarely lets in the softies anymore and his ability to rise up in big games – that 5-1 trouncing over Rinne and the Preds on Thursday was stunning.
What we’re really looking at is a goalie that has done an excellent job shedding an old reputation as just another lucky netminder playing in front of an offensively-oriented team.
Fleury deserves as much praise for Pittsburgh’s success in 2011-12 as anyone else. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him win the team MVP award over Evgeni Malkin.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of good goalies in a league where scoring has somehow fallen by the wayside yet again. But Fleury is having a superior season on a team that has seen more than its fair share of run-and-gun contests.
Fleury deserves merit as a Vezina Finalist and he deserves to win the trophy outright.
"Res Ipsa Loquitur"
JT
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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