Marc-Andre Fleury Clowns Penguins in Shutout, Did He Remove Mask?

Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular Saturday against his former team, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fleury shutout the Penguins 3-0 and got some help from his posts, too. The goalie was also at the center of controversy as he may have intentionally removed his mask to deny the Penguins a sure goal. Fleury responded in the locker room following the game.

See the Fleury video at the bottom.

The man they call Flower bloomed in Pittsburgh, Saturday. Fleury looked fantastic in just his second game back in the city where he played the first 13 years of his career. Marc Andre Fleury made some key first period saves to keep the game tied at 0-0 while his team was under siege. One of the series of highly athletic saves came against former teammate Patric Hornqvist, with whom he won back-to-back Stanley Cups with during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.

Besides the stifling Hornqvist, Fleury made his presence felt by robbing Penguins’ Dominick Simon with a pad save after Crosby connected with Simon on a slick pass. The save prevented the Penguins from taking a late lead and denied Simon his second goal of the year. Fleury closed out the period with a windmill glove save against Penguins’ rookie Sam Lafferty at the 18:43 mark of the period. Lafferty bore on Fleury and tried to rip a shot over his shoulder, but Fleury appeared up to the task. It was a save that reminded Penguins fans of his 2009 Game 7 save against Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.

Fleury also prevented a Penguins scoring chance towards the end of the second period when he “lost” his helmet after Joseph Blandesi made contact with him in the crease. The Penguins stormed around Fleury’s crease and appeared to have a chance to tie the game before the period concluded, but the play was whistled dead. The fact did not escape the keen eyes of one Dan Kingerski,

Oh boy—on the replay, it looked like Fleury pulled his mask off.

— Dan Kingerski 🇺🇦 (@TheDanKingerski) October 20, 2019

Fleury’s biggest save came on a third-period power play for the Penguins when he robbed Juuso Riikola on a one-timer. The play created a momentum shift for Vegas and helped them close out a third period where seemed dominated by the Penguins.

The Penguins selected Marc Andre Fleury first overall during the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, and he won three Stanley Cups while playing in the Steel City (2009, 2016, 2017).  Fleury concluded his 691 game Penguins career with a 375-217-68 record, 44 shutouts, a 2.58 goals-against, and a .912 save percentage. Fleury stopped all 29 shots for his sixth win of the year and his 450th career win which tied him with Terry Sawchuk for seventh all-time.