The hockey Oreo-cookie dilemma took place tonight in Pittsburgh ruining the homecoming for long-time Pittsburgh Penguin Marc Andre Fleury.
The Oreo cookie is two goals by the VGK with five unanswered Pittsburgh goals in the second and third periods sandwiched between two late goals in the third period. Vegas came up one filling short of a cookie in game that had enormous love shown to Fleury, not only by the Penguin organization with an emotional video tribute, but the outpouring of affection by the fans, many with tears in their eyes as the video was playing. They stood, cheered, and chanted his name over and over again. Halfway through the video, Fleury sprayed his face with water, which was intended to mask the tears that swelled up in his eyes. He was clearly moved by it all.
The Penguin fans loved him from day one. He was the face of the organization until some guy named Sidney showed up. But they loved him not only for his impressive results over the many years he wore the black and gold, but also for his character.
Fleury ranked first in the Penguin organization with every goaltender statistic: 691 games, 375 wins, .912save percentage, 2.58 Goals Against Average, 44 shutouts, 3 Stanley Cups.
That kind of playoff experience is something money can’t buy and the VGK will draw from it come April and May. and maybe even into June.
The VGK are blessed to have Marc as their starting goaltender. He’s one of the reasons that the Golden Knights are where they are today. He’s a class act on and off the ice and all of his teammates, past and present, have nothing but praise for him.
Last night’s game, unfortunately, didn’t have the story-book ending that so many hoped for. And yes, even some Pittsburgh fans would have been okay if he won one last night against his old team.
The VGK had a second period that they probably wish they could do over. Same the early part of the third, where the game really got away from them. Pittsburgh was undefeated entering a third period with the lead this season and they remained undefeated when they stretched their lead with two goals early in the period to make a beatable 3-2 lead into a nearly insurmountable 5-2. The VGK did answer back with two goals to cut the lead to 5-4 and pulled Fleury for an extra skater in their attempt to tie the game and send it to OT. But a late penalty by Vegas all but nullified any chance of that.
The five goals surrendered by Fleury were the most he’s given up since the game in which he was injured, back on Oct. 13 vs. Detroit.
His teammates were visibly disappointed in their performance tonight as they knew how much Fleury would have loved to win this game against his old team and in Pittsburgh. They knew they let him down when their second-period effort left a lot to be desired. Did they get comfortable with a 2-0 lead on the road against the defending Stanley Cup champions? We’ll never know, but we do know this could have and should have been a game they should have won.
For those who read my blog, you’ve heard me say numerous times that the next team to score in a 2-0 game has a good chance of winning the game right there. If the score becomes 3-0, the trailing team, for all intents and purposes, knows the night is over; teams at this level rarely blow 3-0 leads. The flip side of this is that if the third goal of the game is scored by the trailing team, now a 2-0 game is now a 2-1 game and all of the emotions and wind are at the back of the team that just scored. This was what happened tonight as Pittsburgh seemed to find an extra jump in their legs when they made the score 2-1 and before the horn blew to end the second, Pittsburgh had deposited three more goals behind Fleury.
Some other points of interest that occurred in this game? The VGK power play continues its scoring frenzy with another PP goal. They’ve scored 11 PPG in the last eight games. Their penalty-killing unit also continues to shine, disposing of five Pittsburgh power plays. Vegas, whose record when scoring first was 22-1-0, suffered its second loss of the season out of the 24 games in which they’ve scored the first goal.
Fleury faced 38 shots and stopped 33.
William Karlsson scored the VGK PPG, his 28th of the season, ending a five-game scoring drought. James Neal scored number 23; Jonathan Marchessault scored his 19th and added one assist. Ryan Carpenter scored his second goal in back-to-back games. And Reilly Smith registered two assists in tonight’s 5-4 loss.
The VGK are now 35-14-4 and still lead the Pacific Division and the Western Conference. They’re 3-2 on this six-game road trip that sees them flying 3,000 miles back to the west coast to face off against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
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