X-Terminator
09-16-2013, 12:23 PM
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- He does not, Mike Bales acknowledges, know Marc-Andre Fleury all that well.
They had lunch this summer and have had a few conversations.
Even spent a little extra time together on the ice after practice a few days ago, for that matter.
Doesn't mean they've gotten particularly close. Not yet, anyway.
But there is at least one thing about Fleury of which Bales, who has replaced Gilles Meloche as the Penguins goaltending coach, seems quite certain.
He sounds convinced that Fleury, who is coming off a series of disappointing playoff performances, can reclaim a spot among the NHL's premier goaltenders.
"Absolutely, he can," Bales said. "He's very skilled. He's obviously very athletic and has a lot of abilities that, quite frankly, most guys in the league don't have.
"Absolutely, he can be an elite-level guy in this league. There's no doubt about that."
Fleury played the first two periods of the Penguins' preseason opener, a 5-4 loss to Columbus Sunday at Nationwide Arena. He had 10 saves and allowed two goals, both on power plays.
Tomas Vokoun, who is scheduled to start when the Penguins face Detroit in a preseason game tonight at Consol Energy Center, supplanted Fleury as the go-to goalie for Game 5 of their opening-round playoff series against the New York Islanders this spring and held the job through a four-game loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference final.
Last week, however, coach Dan Bylsma made it clear that Fleury still is the franchise's No. 1 goalie and said he is penciled in to start the majority of the games in 2013-14.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/penguins/coach-fleury-can-still-be-elite-goalie-for-penguins-703541/#ixzz2f4pdv18w
They had lunch this summer and have had a few conversations.
Even spent a little extra time together on the ice after practice a few days ago, for that matter.
Doesn't mean they've gotten particularly close. Not yet, anyway.
But there is at least one thing about Fleury of which Bales, who has replaced Gilles Meloche as the Penguins goaltending coach, seems quite certain.
He sounds convinced that Fleury, who is coming off a series of disappointing playoff performances, can reclaim a spot among the NHL's premier goaltenders.
"Absolutely, he can," Bales said. "He's very skilled. He's obviously very athletic and has a lot of abilities that, quite frankly, most guys in the league don't have.
"Absolutely, he can be an elite-level guy in this league. There's no doubt about that."
Fleury played the first two periods of the Penguins' preseason opener, a 5-4 loss to Columbus Sunday at Nationwide Arena. He had 10 saves and allowed two goals, both on power plays.
Tomas Vokoun, who is scheduled to start when the Penguins face Detroit in a preseason game tonight at Consol Energy Center, supplanted Fleury as the go-to goalie for Game 5 of their opening-round playoff series against the New York Islanders this spring and held the job through a four-game loss to Boston in the Eastern Conference final.
Last week, however, coach Dan Bylsma made it clear that Fleury still is the franchise's No. 1 goalie and said he is penciled in to start the majority of the games in 2013-14.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sports/penguins/coach-fleury-can-still-be-elite-goalie-for-penguins-703541/#ixzz2f4pdv18w