Artistic. Snow angel-esque. Memories of Dominik’s dominance.
The ways to describe Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s acrobatic move to stone Detroit Red Wings shooter Daniel Alfredsson in Wednesday night’s shootout are as plentiful as the number of motions he made to lunge forward, lose his stick, spin, tumble, end up on his back and still extend a puck-stopping glove with his back to Alfie and his right leg skyward.
It was chaos. It was beauty.
And then Fleury giggled like a child. You could see the great big grin through his mask.
Ruining Alfredsson’s sure thing put a stamp on a flawless shootout and a 34-save victory for Fleury, who could very likely face these same Detroit shooters in the playoffs’ opening round.
“Players on the bench called it a Hasek-type save the way he put his glove out,” Pens coach Dan Bylsma told reporters. “I’m not sure I’ve seen a more acrobatic save from [Fleury].”
If Fleury is about to feel an anvil’s pressure next week when the postseason kicks off, you wouldn’t know it from the way he performed in Wednesday’s overtime and shootout. Wowzers:
Penguins sniper Jussi Jokinen, who also scored in regulation, nabbed the game-winning goal in the shootout, giving the Penguins a 4-3 victory and perhaps a little mental edge when the two teams (maybe) face-off in Round 1.
https://twitter.com/MattPaglia33/status/454248194004635648
https://twitter.com/JohnZSays/status/454249476169793537