Watch: Marc-Andre Fleury Makes Several Late Saves, Penguins Top Capitals 3-2 In Game 1, Round 2

The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals 3-2 in the opening game of their second-round series at Verizon Center on Thursday night, and Marc-Andre Fleury played a huge role in the victory by making a series of late saves.

Marc-Andre Fleury Stops Multiple Shots In Penguins’ 3-2 Win vs. Capitals

Fleury stopped 33 shots on Thursday, with six saves coming in the final 3:08 of the game to maintain Pittsburgh’s lead. The veteran goalie’s string of blocks came during a scramble in front, and perhaps his best stop came on a rebound from Nicklas Backstrom with 2:50 left in third period. After saving Nate Schmidt’s shot from the right circle with his pad, Fleury fell to his knees and brought his pads together to deny Backstrom.

The Penguins shared Fleury’s incredible saves on Twitter, and couldn’t help making a pun to describe the flurry of stops:

“I couldn’t see the puck for a little while there,” Fleury said. “I had no stick, so I was trying to make some stops. It was fun.”

Fleury wasn’t the only one to have missed the puck: the officials also seemed to lose track of it after a certain point. Even the announcers, especially NBC’s Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, struggled to keep up with the barrage of shots, and Emrick sounded out of breath by the end of his commentary of the play. During that minute, Fleury dove, slid, fell on his behind, leap-frogged, while players from both teams piled on top of each other and someone even lost their helmet.

The goalie’s teammates praised him following the victory.

“He was great,” center Matt Cullen said. “He’s been great the entire playoffs. That was him at his best right there. He battles for us. It’s been awesome the way he’s played.”

Fleury’s statistics prove this. The goalie boasts a .934 save percentage in six Stanley Cup Playoff games, a increase from the .909 he had in the regular season. Given these figures and Thursday’s performance, there remains little doubt in the minds of many players, experts and fans that Fleury is one of the top goaltenders in the NHL.

“It’s great,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “He always has a ton of fun, but earlier this year was tough on him, for sure, like any competitor. The ability for him to step up and play at a world-class level is just very exciting.”

Nick Bonino scored the game-winning goal for Pittsburgh on a partial breakaway with 7:24 remaining in the third. Cole fed left wing Scott Wilson at Washington’s blue line, and Wilson then passed to Bonino, who beat Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik and goalie Braden Holtby. 

As he left the Penguins’ locker room, Bonino expressed his gratitude to Fleury for his fantastic performance in the final minutes, saying simply “Thanks, Flower.”

Sidney Crosby netted Pittsburgh’s first two goals, which came within 52 seconds of each other in the second: one 12 seconds into the period on a 2-on-1 with Jake Guentzel, and another at 1:04 on a rebound. Holtby made a pad save on defenseman Olli Maatta’s left-circle shot but the puck was left in front of him, and Patric Hornqvist tapped the puck to Crosby, who fired it into the net.

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored for Washington to tie it 2-2 at 8:05 of the third. The Capitals outshot the Penguins 35-21 in the game, including 16-6 in the third period.

“We had lots of opportunities,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “We put some [83] pucks at their net tonight, they put [41] at ours. We did a lot of good things. We didn’t do enough.”

In the first period, Guentzel made a big defensive move by blocking T.J. Oshie’s rebound shot with his left leg at the goal line with 4:15 remaining to prevent the Capitals from opening scoring and keep the game tied 0-0.

Ovechkin has 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) in 14 Stanley Cup Playoff games against the Penguins. Crosby has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 14 playoff games against the Capitals.

Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals is Saturday at 8 pm EST in Washington.

The New York Rangers, meanwhile, fell to the Ottawa Senators 2-1 in their first game of the second round at Canadian Tire Center on Thursday night. Game 2 is Saturday at 3 pm EST in Ottawa. Ryan McDonagh scored the Rangers’ lone goal on a power play at 7:10 of the second period, and Henrik Lundqvist made 41 saves.

WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 27: Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury #29 of the Pittsburgh Penguins makes a save as Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals players battle for the puck in the third period in Game One of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Verizon Center on April 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. The Pittsburgh Penguins won, 3-2. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)