May 4, 2017
Post 2 Post: Fleury steals game for Pens
Each night during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, TSN Hockey analyst and former NHL goaltender Jamie McLennan provides his Post 2 Post rankings for every goaltender in action.
Each night during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, TSN Hockey analyst and former NHL goaltender Jamie McLennan provides his Post 2 Post rankings for every goaltender in action.
Marc-Andre Fleury (4) - The Pittsburgh Penguins’ goaltender was brilliant again on Wednesday night and was the only reason the team won. He stole the game for the Pens with huge saves on Washington Capitals' forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov, Marcus Johansson, Tom Wilson, Lars Eller, Alex Ovechkin and Andre Burakovsky.
Braden Holtby (2) - The Capitals’ netminder was not busy on Wednesday night as all the action was at the other end, but he made big saves on the Penguins’ Phil Kessel, Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist. The game-winning goal was a perfect shot by Justin Schultz on the powerplay and although Holtby was deep in his net after a readjustment on his angle, Schultz did a great job of not allowing him to get set and take some depth. The Vezina Trophy candidate needs to be better than Marc-Andre Fleury next game as he has been outplayed by him. Expectations are high for Holtby.
Cam Talbot (3) - Talbot didn’t get any help from the league on a goaltender interference call on the Ryan Getzlaf goal – he had no chance when a player runs into the area you need to use to make a save. Talbot also did not have much of a chance on Rickard Rakell and Jakob Silverberg’s goals as the Edmonton Oilers’ goaltender was led astray by the Anaheim Ducks’ backdoor plays. Talbot still managed to make big saves on Rakell twice and one each against Corey Perry and Brandon Montour. But it wasn’t the huge bounce-back game the Oilers needed for the win – he was just solid.
John Gibson (4) - Gibson had to be great in the first period when the Oilers dominated. The 23-year-old made big saves on Connor McDavid, Patrick Maroon, Benoit Pouliot and Kris Russell. Gibson was very good in the third period when the Oilers pressed again with big saves on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Anton Slepyshev.