Rumor: Marc Andre Fleury to start in Game 1.

DeBoer raises some eyebrows ahead of Game 1.

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HockeyFeed
Published 3 years ago
Rumor: Marc Andre Fleury to start in Game 1.
Mike Wulf/CSM/Zuma

Well this is certainly an interesting development.

Although it has not officially been confirmed by the Golden Knights or by Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer, there are now credible reports suggesting that Marc Andre Fleury will be the starter for the Golden Knights on Sunday. The report comes from TSN insider Frank Seravalli and I suspect that we will not receive official confirmation until we see the Golden Knights hit the ice for warm ups.

The move comes as a big surprise given that DeBoer has clearly favored using Robin Lehner in almost every situation during these Stanley Cup playoffs thus far, understandable given that Lehner has been the better goaltender since arriving in Vegas. Even in a situation where the Golden Knights were forced to play on back to back days last week in Game 6 and Game 7, DeBoer opted to go with Lehner in both those situations. This also comes off the heels of a rather controversial incident involving Marc Andre Fleury's agent Allan Walsh so it became even less surprising to see DeBoer favor Lehner in big game situations over Fleury following that event. 

It may very well be that DeBoer is looking to rest Lehner as a result of the grind he was put under during the back to back games the Golden Knights played Thursday and Friday respectively. When you consider that Fleury is a very capable goaltender it is not like he is taking a significant risk by giving Lehner a chance to recharge his batteries. It may even have the added benefit of easing some of the inevitable tensions that was created between Fleury and DeBoer as a result of that now infamous tweet from Fleury's agent.

Moving forward though the Golden Knights will get a full days rest between each of their games in the Conference Final and I suspect that DeBoer will be going back to Lehner rather quickly. Lehner has shown the ability to shoulder the full time workload for the Golden Knights and I believe this will be a one-off in this series for Fleury barring any poor performances from Lehner against the Stars. 

Do you like this decision from DeBoer or should he have gone back to his proven starter in Robin Lehner?


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