Focused Fleury finishes off Caps
Pittsburgh’s veteran goalie shines en route to series-clinching shutout
WASHINGTON — MarcAndre Fleury thanked his goalie stick and flashed a smile so wide it could be seen through his mask.
This was vintage Fleury, and now he and the Pittsburgh Penguins are one step closer to another Stanley Cup.
Fleury stopped 29 shots in a turn-back-the-clock performance on Wednesday night, blanking the Washington Capitals 2-0 in Game 7 of their NHL Eastern Conference semifinal to send Pittsburgh to the conference final against the Ottawa Senators.
This was the Fleury who backstopped the Penguins to the Stanley Cup in 2009 and was almost unbeatable early in this series. His return to form was all the Pens needed to eliminate the Presidents’ Trophy winner in a meeting of the NHL’s top two teams.
“We’re not moving on if he doesn’t play the way he did,” said captain Sidney Crosby, who assisted on Bryan Rust’s opening goal.
“There were times in the series where they had sustained pressure throughout games, but he made some big saves that allowed us to stay in them. He was huge for us all series long.”
Fleury thought it was the Penguins’ best team game of the playoffs, a theory that teammates and coach Mike Sullivan echoed.
Pittsburgh was outshot for the seventh straight game, but Rust and Patric Hornqvist scored on Braden Holtby, and Fleury slammed the door.
It was as complete a game as Pittsburgh has had through two rounds, even though it was without injured defenseman Trevor Daley and winger Carl Hagelin.
Crosby looked like himself again in his third game back from a concussion, and the rest of the team followed.
“They just always find a way to respond the right way to any of the challenges or the adversities that this league throws at us, and they did it again tonight,” Sullivan said.
“I think these guys are at their best when the stakes are high. I thought this was the closest thing to the true Penguins identity that we’ve seen in the playoffs so far.”
It was far from Capitals hockey, which had been on full display in victories in Games 5 and 6.
Chances came and went as Washington failed to get beyond the second round for the seventh time in as many chances in the Alex Ovechkin era.
“Without goals, you can’t win the game,” said Ovechkin, who played just over 18 minutes and was on the ice for each goal.
“We had plenty of chances to score but just didn’t do it. Made a couple mistakes, and it cost us.”
Miscues by Ovechkin and defenseman Matt Niskanen in clearing the puck out of Washington’s zone led to Rust’s goal at 8:49 of the second period and at Hornqvist’s 4:14 of the third.
Ovechkin had one of the Caps’ best scoring chances from the top of the slot midway through the third, but his shot went off the shaft of Fleury’s stick.
It was so close Ovechkin raised his arms thinking he’d scored. That’s when Fleury smiled and said something — but not to a teammate.
“I talk to my stick,” Fleury said. “I tell it, ‘Thank you, good job’.”
The Penguins thanked Fleury for yet another stellar performance.
After allowing nine goals on 142 shots through the first four games, he gave up nine in Games 5 and 6 before bouncing back with an effort that sent the Capitals plunging into an offseason of change and Pittsburgh into its fifth East final in 10 years.
Playing only because No 1 Matt Murray was injured ahead of the playoff opener and with his future uncertain, Fleury was at his best in the biggest game of the season so far.
“I think that we’re kidding ourselves if we don’t give Flower an awful lot of credit,” center Matt Cullen said.
“He stole us more than one game this series and he kept us in a lot of others. We give him a lot of credit, and we’re all so happy for him and proudofhim.Youcan’taskfor a better teammate than Flower, to step up the way he has after what he’s gone through the last couple years.”