Marc-Andre Fleury set a team record with his eighth shutout of season when he and the Penguins blanked the Flames 4-0 in Calgary on Friday.
Fleury made 21 saves to earn his second consecutive shutout. It’s the second time this season that Fleury has earned a shutout in back-to-back games, and he has now gone 131:40 without being scored up.
With shutout number eight, Fleury has broken Tom Barrasso’s record for most shutouts in a season, and he still has over two months to play.
“It’s obviously not something I’m thinking about going into the game,” Fleury said. “But being a goalie, you always want to make every stop. It’s definitely nice when it happens and I think shows how well our team has been playing in front of me.”
Providing the offense for the Penguins was the first line of Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, and David Perron. They combined for 12 shots and eight points to lead the way for the Pens.
Perron got the scoring started off when Kunitz forced a turnover just over five minutes into the game and Crosby pounced on the loose puck, and in the same motion, passed it to Perron who found a hole in Calgary goaltender Jonas Hiller from a tough angle. Perron has now scored eight goals in his 14 games in a Pittsburgh uniform.
Brandon Sutter added an insurance marker at 18:10 of the first off a set play in the offensive zone. Sutter won the faceoff to Rob Scuderi at the left point, who then passed it across to Simon Despres at the right point. Despres one-timed it, but instead of his shot finding the goal frame, it found the stick of Sutter to the left of the net and he deflected it home to give the Pens a 2-0 lead.
From there it was all Fleury and Crosby. The Penguins captain added to his team’s lead with his 16th and 17th goals of the season, at 11:58 of the second period, and 5:19 of the third period, respectively. Kunitz assisted on both goals. It was Crosby’s fourth multi-goal effort of the season
“It’s fun, when you’re able to produce and see chances get rewarded and see the puck go in the back of the net,” said Crosby. “It’s still a work in progress, and we can still get better, but you just have to enjoy that process.”
After the fourth goal, Flames coach Bob Hartley pulled Hiller in favor of Karri Ramo. Hiller finished the night with 19 saves on 23 shots and took the loss.
The Penguins will finish their road trip with a 10:00 p.m. eastern-time faceoff in Vancouver on Saturday night.
Photo credit: NHL.com
