Cup of joy
Fleury passes the Cup — and probably the torch — to Murray
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — We knew, figuratively, it would end with Marc-Andre Fleury passing it off to Matt Murray.
We just didn’t expect it to be so literal, too.
Before the Penguins boarded their flight Monday to Pittsburgh, a familiar silver friend in tow, and before city officials announced plans for a parade at 11 a.m. Wednesday (a trek so familiar now that the city announcement simply said, “same route”), Fleury shared the spotlight with the man who unintentionally stole his.
At the end of a Stanley Cup championship run that saw Fleury lead the Penguins to the Eastern Conference final before Murray carried them the rest of the way, Fleury skated around with Lord Stanley’s trophy for the third time in his career following the Penguins’ seriesclinching2-0 victory Sunday night.
As his time with the trophy wound down, he skated toward Murray, the 23year-old goaltender who took his starting job, and handed him the Stanley Cup.
“I was hanging out, and he came over,” Murray recalled. “I thought he was going to somebody else.” Fleury wasn’t. And the gesture had Murray’s voice cracking a bit when he discussed it afterward.
“He’s been a really important mentor for me,” Murray said of Fleury. “He’s been so supportive over the last couple years. There’s no way I’m able to play as freely as I have been without Flower being there to support me.
“He’s meant everything to me. … That made me pretty emotional, actually. It meant a lot to me.
“My rank on this team is way at the bottom. We have a lot of experienced players. Usually that’s how it goes. I was able to get it before some of the guys. That’s only because of Flower.”