Goalie Controversy in Pittsburgh?

Beej played a great game, but MAF is still the starter.

If you take the first two Penguins games of the season at face value it would be easy to pin the problem between the pipes. This morning on Pens HD Radio host Steve Mears heavily suggested based off of fan reaction that there was or should be  a question as to who should start the Pens 4th game of the year against Toronto Wednesday night. So let’s get this out of the way right now.  There is no goalie controversy in Pittsburgh unless we allow there to be one.

Marc-Andre Fleury cannot be held responsible in any form for the loss opening night to Philadelphia.  None of the goals were his fault. The goals were far more indicative of the breakdowns by the defensemen in their own end, apart from the Briere tally. The only goal that is squarely on Flower’s shoulders in the Scotty Gomez game winner against Montreal last Saturday.  That’s a goal Fleury should have had.  He didn’t get it, it was a crucial part of the game and it stands out for people.  Too bad they so easily forget about this from Thursday night:

It’s a fact that Brent Johnson stood on his head yesterday in the Pens’ first win of the season against the Devils.  The sad thing is that he even had to late.  The Devils had only 15 skaters on the ice (9 forwards) due to injuries,  suspensions, and Ilya Kovalchuk salary cap concerns.  Yet they were in the game late and it is due to two factors.  First of all the Pens are not getting primary scoring.  Captain Sidney Crosby has just one assist and is a +/- 0 through three games.  He has missed opportunities he buried last year.  Evgeni Malkin has a lone goal and is a minus one.  After having shaking first games defensively, Paul Martin (1G 3A) and Alex Goliskgoski (2G 1A) are putting up most of the offensive contributions.

That leads us to the second factor and that is defensive zone play by our defensemen.  It has been sketchy to be kind.  An errant Kris Letang pass back to Martin in his own zone opening night handcuffed him and led directly to a Claude Giroux (backbreaker) goal. The breakout has been weak and in the collapse loss to Montreal Saturday night the Pens defense backed off of the Habs after containing them to their own zone for over 3 of the final five minutes.  It was almost as if the defense felt the job was done and on the next solid Montreal rush the defenseman we already in the middle of the circles when the Canadiens brought the puck across the Penguins’ blue line right before they tied it.  I’ll be honest, Letang has been the most underwhelming defenseman on the Pens roster, especially considering the 3.5 $Million deal he signed through the end of the 2013/14 season last spring.  It was said he has to grow into the contract.  He’d better start growing soon.

I remember thinking opening night that it was the most confident that I had ever seen Fleury with his stick handling.  Lets ease off of the lynch mob in Pittsburgh.  We are exactly three games into the season, expectations are high and we do not have a controversy in net unless we create it ourselves.  Remember that this was a scheduled start for Brent Johnson in New Jersey yesterday.  He is scheduled to make 3 starts in the first 11 games.  Leave it at that.  We’ll see where we sit mid-November before we think about grabbing torches and pitchforks.  Even then we need to consider where we are aiming.  Should it be in net, or should it be at the shaky play of the players most responsible for supporting the man in the pipes?

Much to his credit Mears read my email on-air and agreed that its more reactionary Penguins fans who are bashing Flower.  The Pens and Penguins Live are not suggesting that Beej is or should be considered as the starter in this young season.

The problem Mearsy is that the small contingent of people on Penguins Live who are calling for Johnson over Fleury don’t know a thing about hockey beyond the score and you are giving them greater voice. Even the NHL’s official iPhone app was throwing fuel on this fire today:

Kinda funny that is says Mellon Arena. It would still just be Civic Arena at this point and still be the wrong building.