Penguins’ Fleury to stay in net for Game 2 vs Blue Jackets

Pittsburgh was able to make the most of their limited chances.

With this injury, the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves without their number one goalie and clutch playoff performer from last year’s post-season. Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin (71) skates around Columbus Blue Jackets’ William Karlsson (25) during the first period in Game one of a first round NHL Stanley Cup playoff series in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, April 12, 2017.

Fleury was the Penguins’ franchise goalie for more than a decade and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2009. He’s already missed Game 1 against the Blue Jackets, however, and continues to recover from a reported groin injury.

“It feels good inside”, he said. “Like anybody else on a team, everybody has to stay sharp through the process”. When Murray tweaked something during pregame warmups, Fleury found himself starting.

But all of that is to overlook that Fleury is one season removed from a renaissance campaign.

“You know the importance goes up, the urgency goes up”, Lundqvist said. And don’t get me wrong Fleury is solid, but not as solid as he used to be.

Columbus enters Game 2 at 2-9 all-time in the playoffs and 1-5 on the road.

“They’re both good”, Hartnell said. “And I think that was our No. 1 message to our team was, we can be better, so let’s be better”.

Montreal had a 45-30 shots advantage in regulation and a 58-38 overall edge. “They’re pretty fast. They’ve got a lot of skill”. Crosby now has 50 playoff goals in his career, the 57th player in National Hockey League history to reach that milestone.

“That’s the way they play. At 6’2”, a dominant presence in net by a veteran guy bodes well for an injured team – most notably one suffering on defense.

Like the tough players they worship, hockey fans are also known for their resilience.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan offered no public update of Murray’s status on Thursday, saying only there’s no timetable for Murray’s return. For a long stretch at the start, they weren’t.

“We had some looks but in the end it was more about finish”, said coach Claude Julien.

The Ducks probably shouldn’t change much of anything from a 3-2 victory over the Flames, who lost for the 28th consecutive time at Honda Center dating to 2006.

Guentzel restored the Penguins’ lead at 2-1 just 51 seconds later. After that it was all San Jose. He said playing 1:45 in the third period Wednesday would not affect him moving forward. “We came back so strong”.

Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers – Lundqvist had 31 saves as the New York Rangers opened the playoffs with a 2-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens. We’re just trying to read off each other. We have a deep team. Those fresh memories didn’t hurt. Considering how comfortable Fleury looked while tying a club record by making his 101st playoff appearance, there’s no hurry to rush Murray back out there. Crosby turned Pittsburgh’s first shot of the game into the 50th playoff goal of his career, though he had the easy part: settling the puck at the doorstep then flipping it into a wide-open net.