From The Editor's Desk

The New Ozzie
By Tony DeFazio

Much like quarterbacks in football, goaltenders are the lightning rods in hockey when their team loses. So it should not have come as a surprise when, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury became the object of heavy criticism after the Penguins lost their playoff opener 5-4 to Ottawa. He was flat for the entire 60 minutes and let in at least three soft goals, all at inopportune times. And this was coming on the heels of an inconsistent regular season.

Talk show callers wanted him benched, message-board posters called him a weak-link and Penguins fans in general were losing faith in Flower at a rapid rate.

Fleury's coaches and teammates were not the least bit concerned, however, nor should they have been. He was, of course, the same goaltender who stood between the nets for two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals runs the last two years. The same goalie that stopped 24 shots over two-and-a-half overtimes and finished with 55 saves the night Petr Sykora's power play goal in the third overtime sent the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals back to Pittsburgh. The same No. 29 whose glove save on Alexander Ovechkin early in the first period propelled his team to a 6-2 whitewashing of the Capitals in Game 7 of the last season's Eastern Conference Semifinals. The same No. 29 who made two saves in the final two seconds of Game 7 of the Cup Finals last June, including one on future Hall-of-Famer Niklas Lidstrom from point-blank range.

I know, I know – what have you done for me lately?

Well, No. 29 answered that in Game 2 when he stopped 19 of 20 shots as the Pens evened the series at a game apiece, and continued to grow stronger as the first round of the playoffs went on. And when his teammates inexplicably came out flat in the first period of Games 5 and 6, Fleury was there to keep the Penguins within shouting distance. And when they mounted their comebacks, he was at his best.

Thirty postseason wins between 2008 and 2009. Winner of 8 of his past 9 playoff series (at press time). He won a Game 7 at the Joe, for Pete's sake.

Come to think of it, maybe all that time staring across a sheet of ice at Red Wings' goaltender Chris Osgood has rubbed off on Fleury. After all, Osgood was always viewed as the wink link for Detroit. Even while he was winning Stanley Cups, he got no credit. When they lost, Ozzie took the blame. He was waived, benched, traded, waived and benched again.

Sure, he had his weaknesses, but to paraphrase former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan, all the guy did was win Stanley Cups. Three, by the way, and he's also tenth in all-time wins by an NHL goaltender. Not bad for a wink link, eh?

When Fleury put together a remarkable regular season in 2007-08, the consensus was that the Flower had finally blossomed; he had finally matured into the All-Star caliber goaltender the Pens hoped he could be when they drafted him first overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

But has the Flower have bloomed into a version of Osgood? A guy who wins and wins and wins but never gets enough credit? Fleury has a ways to go to catch Osgood, but at 25 and surrounded by some of the best talent in the league, it's certainly possible. Will that be enough to finally keep the critics at bay?

Possibly. At least until the next goal.