Fleury hadn’t seen game action since suffering an injury back on March 31.
Advertisement
Penguins RW Phil Kessel scored a goal, with 10 shot attempts (6 SOG), in Game Four.
Before many fans had even gotten comfortable in their seats Friday night, Lightning right winger Ryan Callahan scored the first goal to put Tampa Bay ahead.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Ninety minutes before the opening faceoff, Jon Cooper talked about what the Tampa Bay Lightning needed to do to get back on track in the Eastern Conference finals.
Toward the end of the 1st period, Andrej Sustr scored to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will move one more game to the Stanley Cup Finals with a home victory. Midway through the second period, the fiery defenceman was involved in a scrum and was goaded into taking multiple penalties-giving the Lightning a four-minute power play.
Callahan tipped a shot past goalie Matt Murray just 17 seconds into the game.
Tampa Bay beat Fleury twice during the regular season, scoring a combined nine goals against him and chasing him once, though Fleury made a couple of quality stops on Friday night, including a breakaway save early in the third that seemed to shift the momentum. “I thought we did a good job of that”. He tracked the puck well and his first save came on a partial breakaway from Vladislav Namestnikov.
It’s playing with that kind of urgency Pittsburgh will focus on heading home, not who will be in net.
Is that what you saw while watching the first three games of the Penguins-Lightning series? He’s allowed just 30 goals on 390 shots.
“I thought Marc made some big saves for us, especially early in the game”, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said, adding it was hard to gauge how much the long layoff impacted Fleury’s performance. Considering the goals against Murray weren’t necessarily his fault, the poor results could effect his mental focus. But the most important lesson should have come from the Chicago Blackhawks: the art of hanging close in the game long enough to figure out how to win it. Fleury has been practicing regularly to maintain his game-time focus if called upon. One could argue that since Murray has been so good, why change goalies? Does he display confidence in the rookie and go back to Murray or does he stick with the veteran who has plenty of playoff experience? Third, the lack of playing time means he is physically and mentally fresh.
“We’re doing the right things”, said Penguins goaltender Matt Murray, who made 26 saves. Having Fleury back in net can provide the spark the Penguins need to stay consistent and disciplined in their fast-paced and dominant style of play.
The series returns to Pittsburgh for Game 5, which will be played Sunday night.
Advertisement
Indeed, in the two games Callahan has been at his ornery best, the Lightning have won both. The team will join the San Jose Barracuda in the Pacific Division. A goal there possibly changes the complexion of the game. It happened in the second period when Letang’s thoughtless temper tantrum played a big part in a 4-3, series-tying loss in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final. The series is now tied 2-2.
