Fleury or Lehner? Golden Knights’ goalie puzzle remains hard to solve

By Justin Emerson

Sunday, July 19, 2020 | 2 a.m.

Marc-Andre Fleury missed the first few days of training camp, so it took until Thursday for the Golden Knights to visually face the question that could define their postseason.

 Fleury was in the net nearest the home bench, as usual. Robin Lehner, the former Vezina finalist and prized trade-deadline acquisition, was on the other end of the ice.

For the most part, it was a positive sight for the Golden Knights — one of the best goaltending tandems in the NHL finally practicing together again. But it also raises the question that at some point coach Peter DeBoer is going to have to answer — Which one does his team most rely on?

“We’ve got two starting goalies, so we’re going to play them both,” DeBoer said. “I haven’t decided on any of the specifics of that, but both guys are going to play and then we’ll go day to day from there.”

It’s been a debate since the moment Lehner arrived. Fleury is the future Hall of Famer with a Stanley Cup pedigree and the face of the Golden Knights over the last three years. Lehner has been more successful recently, including a career year with the New York Islanders last season.

Lehner, 28, is also seven years younger and playing for a new contract in the offseason.

Both have experiences in a time-share situation. Lehner split the Islanders’ net with Thomas Greiss last season and with Corey Crawford in Chicago this year before the trade.

In Pittsburgh, Fleury spent his last few years sharing time with Matt Murray. Once Lehner joined the Golden Knights, he started three of the seven games before the pause, and Fleury started the other four.

Working in DeBoer’s favor is the Golden Knights’ schedule in the return-to-play format. They have an exhibition and three round-robin games for seeding where he can evaluate his goalies before actual elimination games start. 

Fleury and Lehner have not surprisingly stayed diplomatic in their assessment of the situation.

 “At the end of the day, all that matters is winning, right? That’s why we’re all here,” Fleury said. “Obviously it’s always more fun when you’re on the ice playing but I think playoffs comes, you’ve got to be selfless and do what’s right for the team.”

Both have been outstanding in camp. Drawing conclusions from a week’s worth of practice would foolish, but it’s just been noticeable how few pucks have found the nets in scrimmages.

“I think we’ve created opportunities and chances and good looks but both guys are dialed in here,” DeBoer said. “That’s a great feeling for coaches, but also for teammates knowing those guys both look that good right now.”

Scrimmages have been up-tempo to replicate game action as much as possible. DeBoer has emphasized pace, intensity and energy, as it will be up to the players to hype themselves up without fans in the crowd for games.  

 Lehner said that hasn’t been an issue. Fleury is enjoying angering his teammates by not allowing them to score in practice.

“I think the team that mimics the intensity the best of the game is going to have the advantage, but I think it’s hard,” he said. “We can practice and scrimmage as much as we want. I think there’s a mental aspect that’s coming into playing real games, pressure.”

Choosing between Fleury and Lehner may sound like a luxury for DeBoer, but it also presents a near-impossible scenario. If the goalie he chooses as the starter struggles, fans will question why he didn’t pick the other.

And what if he has to pull one of the goalies early in the game and the replacement plays better? Who starts the next contest? 

It’s a situation DeBoer has never dealt with. He’s reached two Stanley Cups, in 2012 with the New Jersey Devils and in 2015 with the San Jose Sharks, but Martin Brodeur and Martin Jones, respectively, started every game during those runs.

“I think particularly with four months off, a short training camp and a long playoff runway, it might be even more important this year that both guys play games at different points,” DeBoer said. “Maybe it will be one guy starting the majority, maybe we’ll go back and forth. I’m really going to keep an open mind to this because of the situation and because we have two great goalies.”