After Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled as the starting goaltender of the Pittsburgh Penguins against the New York Islandes, I was riding high on the Tomas Vokoun bandwagon. Ray Shero didn’t bring Vokoun in for two years at the price he did to be another Brent Johnson. Vokoun was brought to Pittsburgh in case Fleury faltered again in the playoffs.
When Vokoun assisted in leading the Penguins to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, I was okay with sticking with him until he lost a game. Despite the loss on Sunday night in double overtime to the Ottawa Senators, it’s still Vokoun’s job the rest of the way, barring any type of collapse.
If Vokoun gave up three or four goals or any fluky Fleury-type goals, then I’d be okay with exploring the possibility of going back to Fleury. Vokoun stopped 46 of the 48 Senator shots that he faced and as Head Coach Dan Bylsma said, Vokoun played his best game of the playoffs yet. Both goals were instances of a defensive lapse; the first was on Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang for losing track of Daniel Alfredsson coming down the slot and the second on Mark Eaton. Vokoun stood on his head and for whatever reason the defense seems more comfortable playing in front of him.
Fleury, who has given up 40 goals in his past 10 postseason games, is still the team’s No. 1 goalie going forward. Until it goes astray, though, it’s Vokoun’s ship the rest of the playoffs.
Photo Credits: ESPN.com
