Pens Insider: Fleury gets shutout record in win
By Chris Bradford cbradford@timesonline.com | Posted: Saturday, March 16, 2013 11:53 pm
The “Fleury! Fleury!” chants started sometime in the middle of the third period and escalated to a crescendo in the dying seconds. Not that the Penguins’ goaltender needed to do much spectacular Saturday against the offensively-challenged New York Rangers.
No, the recognition was more of a lifetime achievement award. For that, Marc-Andre Fleury is surely deserving.
Fleury made 23 saves in Saturday’s 3-0 win over New York to become the Penguins’ all-time leader in shutouts. It was career shutout No. 23 in game No. 455 for Fleury, who last season became the franchise’s all-time leader in wins.
“Been looking forward to this one for a while now, definitely good to get it tonight,” said Fleury, who surpassed the record of Tom Barrasso, who set the mark in 460 games.
Was it the most difficult shutout of Fleury’s nine-year career?
“No, but I’ll take it,” said Fleury.
Beau Bennett scored just 90 seconds in and that was all Fleury needed. Fleury’s last shutout had been Feb. 21, 2012 -- also against the Rangers -- a span of 36 games.
Tyler Kennedy and Pascal Dupuis scored 53 seconds apart in the third period as the Penguins extended their season-best winning streak to eight.
NOTABLE
-- Saturday’s win kicked off the fifth set of back-to-back games the Penguins have played this season. They have gone 7-2 in those games, posting a record of 4-1 on the first day and 3-1 on the second.
-- The Penguins have now won seven consecutive games against the Rangers dating back to Jan. 19 of last season. During the streak the Penguins have outscored New York 28-8. It also matches the longest against New York in franchise history (Jan. 18-2009–Jan. 25, 2010).
-- The Penguins are now 14-3-4 in their last 21 home games against the Rangers.
-- Including the three goals on Saturday the Penguins have posted a league-high 106. They own a 17-goal lead over second place Anaheim (89).
-- LW Chris Kunitz saw his three-game scoring streak come to an end.
-- Over his last 42 home starts in the month of March, G Marc-Andre Fleury has posted a record of 33-6-3, helping his team earn 82.1 percent of the available points over that stretch.
-- D Kris Letang, who has 13 assists over his last eight games, is now just one point away from 200 for his career.
-- D Brooks Orpik blocked three more shots, pushing his total to 78 on the season. He trails only Nicklas Grossmann of Philadelphia (82) for the league lead. The Penguins blocked 16 shots as a team.
-- LW Pascal Dupuis scored his 14th goal of the season and is now tied for fourth in the league. The 33-year-old now has goals in five of six games, scoring seven over that span.
-- RW Tyler Kennedy (1G-1A) and C Dustin Jeffrey (2A) each collected their first two-point games of the season.
-- The Penguins’ penalty kill has surrendered just one goal over the past four games, killing nine of 10 over that span.
-- The Penguins pushed their record against the Atlantic Division to 8-4-0. The Rangers saw their record against the division fall to 4-5-1.
-- Rangers forwards Ryan Callahan and Derek Stepan each saw three-game scoring streaks come to an end in the 3-0 loss to the Penguins.
-- The Rangers might have lost on the scoreboard, but they did beat the Penguins in terms of physicality out-hitting them 26-14.
-- The Penguins extended their sellout streak to 267. The 18,658 in attendance match the record for the largest hockey crowd in CEC history.
QUOTABLE
“He was unbelievable today. You see how calm he is in net, directing traffic and moving pucks to our D-men. Our ‘D’ did a really good job, too. They were clearing out the net for him and he was able to see shots. It was kind of a collective shutout effort for sure.”
RW Beau Bennett, who scored the game winning goal, on Marc-Andre Fleury’s franchise record- setting shutout performance.
KEY PLAY
The Penguins have made a habit of scoring first and did so for the 20th time Saturday on Beau Bennett’s goal at 1:30 of the opening period. Bennett flashed a burst of speed as he broke down the right wing boards to collect a puck that was chipped off the boards and into open space by linemate Dustin Jeffrey. Bennett used his momentum to rip a slap shot from the right wing circle that beat Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist over the right shoulder. The goal, Bennett’s second of the season, gives the rookie forward seven points in his last 10 games. “It was kind of lucky that it laid out and it wasn’t spinning too bad from the board play from Jeffrey, so I just kind of stepped into and looking for the far side and luckily it went in,” Bennett said.
HIDDEN STAT
20: Number of times the Penguins have scored three or more goals in their last 23 games. During that span, Pittsburgh has scored 89 goals for an average of 3.87 per game. The team’s record in those 23 games is 18-5.
THREE STARS
1. Marc-Andre Fleury, PGH
2. Tyler Kennedy, PGH
3. Dustin Jeffrey, PGH
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