The Pittsburgh Penguins were hit hard this past week as Tomas Vokoun will be out indefinitely with a blood clot. Vokoun has 300 wins and 50 shutouts to his resume and played like a MVP in last years postseason. More importantly, Vokoun has become a leader in the locker room and a calming presence in the eye of the storm.
Exhibition games are tough to gauge how well someone is playing especially since the Penguins have split squads. However, Fleury allowed three goals on his first six shots Saturday after allowing two on his first three at Columbus last Sunday.
In the wake of Vokoun’s absence, the Pittsburgh Penguins signed journeyman goalie Jeff Deslauriers to the mix.
Deslauriers, 29, spent last season with the Minnesota Wild and was drafted 31st overall in the 2002 NHL draft. Unfortunately for Deslauriers, he hasn’t made much of an impact at the NHL level. In the 2009 campaign, Deslauriers played in 48 games and he lost 28. Deslauriers hasn’t played in the league since the 2011 campaign when he played four games for Anaheim.
Jeff Zatkoff, in his sixth season, will now get his opportunity to play as a Pittsburgh Penguin. Zatkoff has five years experience at the professional level, but he has yet to make his NHL debut. Last year for the baby Pens, Zatkoff appeared in 49 games, setting new career highs in wins with 26. His goals against average of 1.93 was first in the league to go along with five shutouts.
Will the real Marc-Andre Fleury please stand up?
The Penguins now more than ever need Fleury to regain his composure, his mental toughness and reclaim his spot as one of the NHL’s elite netminders. Let’s not forget that Fleury has won more regular-season games than any NHL goalie over the last four years. As we know, it’s the postseason, we would like to forget about as Fleury has recorded a sub-.900 save percentage in each of the last four playoffs.
Vokoun was poised to once again assume the starting goaltending duties, however that plan is scratched for the foreseeable future. On the other end of the spectrum, the Penguins are loaded with top-notch goaltending prospects in the organization. Fleury knows that this is a make or break season. He needs to leave no doubt by the end of training camp, which at this point, he hasn’t.
