Fire and ice: Kessel, Fleury pull Penguins even
Emotional forward, cool goalie key Pittsburgh's series-squaring win
Game 2 of the East final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators had more twists and turns than a week on Coronation Street.
There were heated outbursts from Pittsburgh linemates Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin — sometimes lashing out at each other on the bench, sometimes engaged in animated moaning sessions (Kessel about Malkin; Malkin about Kessel) with head coach Mike Sullivan or assistant coach Rick Tocchet.
There were the additions of defenceman Justin Schultz and forward Bryan Rust to the Penguins' already busy infirmary. Schultz left the game with a right arm or shoulder injury after he slammed into the end boards. Rust was knocked into la-la land after an open-ice hit from Senators defenceman Dion Phaneuf.
Finally, there was the continued strong play of popular goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. It wasn't the busiest night of his playoff career, but he was good enough for 23 saves to earn his 10th career Stanley Cup playoff shutout, pushing him to 11th on the all-time list (tied with Henrik Lundqvist and Ken Dryden).
Fleury earned his 62nd career playoff victory to move into 12th spot on the all-time list when the Penguins' soap opera-like evening ended with Kessel taking a pass from Malkin inside the Senators' blue line.
Kessel's first shot attempt was blocked by Ottawa forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau. But the puck bounded back to Kessel and he made good on his second attempt with 6:55 remaining in the third period for a 1-0 win to knot the conference final series at one game apiece.
Kessel demanding the puck or claiming he's open is nothing new. He was known for similar antics with his first team, the Boston Bruins, and at his next stop, with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"Phil is an emotional guy, so when he comes back to the bench, he wants a pass, doesn't get it, he lets a guy know," Sullivan said. "I don't have a problem with that. I don't think our team has any problem with that. I think that's how we make progress, that's how we come together as a team.
"Our coaching staff, we like the juice on the bench. I'd much rather have a bench that's invested in trying to win, that has some emotion and some personality to it than a group of guys that are flat-lined and we've got to check them for a pulse."
Kessel now has an impressive 29 goals, including four game-winners, and 57 points in 60 career playoff games. He will need to keep producing — especially if the injuries to Schultz, Rust and Patric Hornqvist (hurt in the series opener) sideline those players for any more time.
'The best team player in sports'
Fleury also will need to continue to pile up wins, and possibly shutouts, considering the defensive-minded Senators have held the high-scoring Penguins to only two goals in the first two games of this series.
In another strange twist, Fleury became the Penguins' go-to-guy in goal only because No. 1 netminder Matt Murray suffered an injury in the warm-up before Pittsburgh's playoff opener last month.
Fleury stepped right in and played his best in a long time, making Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford glad he resisted trading his veteran goalie. Murray, of course, supplanted Fleury in the No. 1 role when Fleury was injured late in the 2015-16 season, and all Murray did was win a Stanley Cup.
"I'm very happy we have the two goalies we have, but I never changed my position from the start of camp," Rutherford said. "I never wavered on it. I had some calls during the season asking about [Fleury]. Those conversations didn't go very far.
"I couldn't be happier for Marc because he, to me, is one of the best team players in all of sports. To see how he handled the situation and ultimately how he's played these two rounds, I couldn't be happier for the guy."
His teammates feel the same way. The 32-year-old Fleury always has a smile on his face and is quick with a quip.
When asked what he did to pass the time during a near 19-minute pause between shots — Ottawa defenceman Chis Wideman's 56-foot slapper with 3:47 remaining in the second period was his team's last puck on net before Zack Smith's backhand from in close at the 15:06 mark of the third period — Fleury responded "wait."
He also was asked for his thoughts on Kessel's outbursts on Monday. "I'll have to watch the replay on that," Fleury said. "When Phil is emotional in the game, he's into it, and he's a threat out there. Again, tonight he came up big for us."
So did Fleury on another interesting evening of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Cue the Coronation Street theme.
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