Today, Redemption is spelled F-L-E-U-R-Y; Pens top Bolts 5-1

Well, not to toot my own horn, but I said in my last blog that the Pens should start Marc-Andre Fleury last night.  Well I got what I wanted, and every Pens fan got what they wanted, a win.  On to Plus/Minus:

Pluses:

Marc-Andre Fleury:  Fleury for Vezina!!!  Just kidding.  Fleury needed this win.  And he needed to win convincingly.  Now yes, he only faced 16 shots tonight but don't let the score sheet fool you.  He made a great save on St. Louis in the opening seconds of the second period.  He never lost the puck in the couple of scrambles around the net.  And the only shot he let in would be the lethal Steven Stamkos one-timer from the bottom of the left circle, and he even got a big piece of it.  Fleury was solid last night, not spectacular, but solid.  He made the saves he needed to make to keep the game tied early and kept the softies out of the net unlike his counter-part Mike Smith.  I hope this is a turnaround for MAF because we're gonna need him.

Team Defense: After a pathetic third period against Boston, the Pens seemed to forget the third period of that game even happened, holding Tampa to just 16 shots, 5 of those coming on 8 power play chances.  Yes there were some almosts with a couple of scrambles around the net and a Marty St. Louis breakaway, but all in all, the team made this an easy one for MAF. 

Pascal Dupuis:  Since Dupuis came here on February 26, 2008, he's been an after thought.  Marian Hossa was brought in and he was the marque player in that deal.  Well Hossa left for money and what he calls a "better chance to win the cup" and Pascal Dupuis signs a 3 year deal in Pittsburgh.  Over the next couple of seasons, Pascal played some top 6 minutes but never made an impression on the coaching staff.  This year with Bill Guerin gone, Pascal received one final chance to play top 6 minutes with Sidney Crosby.  Boy is he making the most of them.  With 5 goals in the season so far, Pascal is on pace for 24 goals and 39 points.  Now that doesn't seem like top 6 numbers but for Sid to have a 20 goal scorer is huge.  That makes teams think a little harder about their kind of d on Sid.  Chris Kunitz is on pace for a 19 goal and 43 point season.  Dupuis makes 1.4 million, Kuni makes around 3.5.  Pascal's due for a pay raise.

Minuses:

Discipline:  The Pens had 8 penalties last night and none of them were Majors, like fighting.  The Lightning had the 4th or 5th ranked PP going into the game last night, not to mention the best PP weapon in the league in Steven Stamkos.  The penalty kill stepped up and kept this one out of reach late.

Some people are calling it the most complete game by the Pens this year.  I agree.  Everything worked last night.  All  of the Fleury haters can't say anything about last night.  But they're waiting, and when they decide they want to talk smack, Fleury will be waiting.