Turn and face the strange.
Cha-Cha-Changes.
Now, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan has to make the biggest decision of his Penguins coaching career.
The Pens were beaten 4-3 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday. The Tampa Lightning charged out to a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes and rookie goalie sensation Matt Murray was mercifully yanked from his net after the depleted Pens D corps allowed a blitzkrieg of goals and chances against.
The best-of-7 series is now tied at 2-2.
What we have now is a best-of-three. Winner goes to the Stanley Cup Finals. Loser goes to the lake home for the summer.
Will Sullivan park the 21 year old Murray for Game 5? Will he try to stabilize his team by starting the 31 year old Fleury?
Fleury played the third period and made 7 saves in the 4-3 loss in Game 4. Prior to that, he hadn't played in a game in 50 days dating back to March 31 when he suffered a concussion.
It appears that Murray's days of playing with house money may be over. He has a .892 save percentage in his past six games.
There is no denying that the Penguins as a unit played considerably better in the third period when trailing 4-0 then they had for the first 40 minutes of misery in which they were outhit, outshot, and outscored by the Lightning.
Since winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, Fleury has started 48 playoff games for the Pens. In those games he has complied a 22-26 record with a 3.00 GAA. In his last six playoff appearances (2009-10 to 2014-2015), Fleury's save percentage has been: .891 (knocked out second round, 13 games), .899 (knocked out first round, 7 games) .834 (knocked out first round, 6 games), .883 (knocked out first round, 5 games), .915 (knocked out second round, 13 games), and .927 (knocked out first round in five games).
Since winning the Cup in 2009, "Flower" has been known to wilt under the intense heat, anxiety, adversity, and bright lights associated with the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Penguins D leader Kris Letang copped to it after the loss. He said that there definitely was something of a concerted effort by all Pens players to up their own intensity and focus levels to support the man that they call "Flower".
"He's such an important guy for us since he was drafted. He's a very good leader for us. He had a hell of a season; it's just too bad that these things happen. It was fun to see him in net, give us a push. I'm pretty sure that pushed the guys to work hard."
In Murray's defense, he was left out to dry by his D and forwards on three of the four goals that he allowed in his 40 minutes of work. The Lightning exploited soft D zone coverage by the Pens and made them pay for it. Unfortunately, the goalie has to wear the goat horns when the red goal light starts spinning. The game video will prove that the Lightning simply wanted pucks more and were ferocious on the fore check in the first 40 minutes of play, thus the lopsided 4-0 score.
The Pens started slow and dopey and the Bolts made them pay. Just 27 seconds into Game 4, Rochester's Ryan Callahan bull dogged Trevor Daley and the Pittsburgh D with a ferocious fore check and tipped home the first goal of the game.
The Pens never pushed back from the Callahan goal. The Bolts dominated the first and second periods. The decision to play Fleury over Murray in the third period sparked the Pens. Before you knew it, the score was 4-3 and the Pens were an entirely different team that played will a helluva lot more moxy and passion than the team that sleep walked through the first 40 minutes of play.
Personally, I would start Fleury in Game 5. Murray needs a mental health day off. He's played great at times and mediocre at others. That is what is to be expected of a 21 year old rookie playing in the most pressure packed hockey tournament with the best players on the planet. Fatigue becomes a factor in this war of attrition called the Stanley Cup playoffs. I think Sullivan would help his team immensely by giving the kid a night off from the grind. If Fleury falls flat on his face, Murray can have his net back. However, if Fleury succeeds and the Pens win Game 5, you ride the hot goalie. Its all about the team now. Not the individual.
All eyes are on Sullivan now. Will he play Fleury or Murray in Game 5?
"I haven't really given it any thought at this point," Sullivan Friday night.
***
I'll be taking a break from my yard work to watch Canada-v-USA at the Worlds.
Buffalo Sabres fans will no doubt be glued to their HDTVs to watch Ryan O'Reilly and Samson Reinhart of Team Canada battled tooth and nail with their teammates Jake McCabe and Hudson Fasching who represent Team USA.
In 8 games played at the tourney, O'Reilly has 2 goals and 5 assists. Reinhart has 3 assists.
McCabe has a goal and an assist in 6 games played. Fasching has one assist in 8 games played.
McCabe, Fasching and Team USA better eat their Wheaties before the game. They are going to have their hands full containing and defending the high octane Canadians.
Canada leads the IIHF Worlds in goal scoring with 40 goals for. The U.S. have scored just 24 goals.
Canada is hurting teams with four lines of scoring. All 21 skaters have registered at least one point and 16 have at least three.
Here are the lines and trios from Saturday's game day skate:
Hall-Brassard-Perry Duchene-McDavid-Marchand ROR-Scheifele-Stone Domi-Jenner/Reinhart-Gallagher
Rielly-Tanev Murray-Ellis Matheson-Ceci Hutton-Dumba
Canada has four players in the top ten of scoring.
Derick Brassard and Mark Stone have ten points each, while Taylor Hall and Mark Scheifele have nine. Defenceman Michael Matheson leads all players with a plus-minus rating of +12. Goalie Cam Talbot leads with three shutouts and a GAA of 1.17 (tied with Finland’s Mikko Koskinen).
Canada has given up just one power-play goal in eight games. Canada has the second fewest penalties in the tournament (just 28 minor penalties), whuich includes Corey Perry's transgressions against Patrik Laine and Team Finland earlier this week.
The bell cow for Team USA is Auston Matthews, who has five goals and eight points.
Matthews is making a case for why he deserves to be the #1 overall pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the NHL Entry Draft next month.