Marc-Andre Fleury robbed Mark Scheifele twice in a matter of seconds to help his Vegas Golden Knights preserve a 3-2 lead in the third period of Game 3 on Wednesday night.
Below, we'll break down how Fleury was able to make such ridiculous stops.
For a full video of the play, click here.
While Fleury's often praised for his freaky athleticism, he doesn't get nearly enough credit for his IQ between the pipes. As you can see in this image, he has already transferred his weight to his left leg in anticipation of pushing off, knowing that Blake Wheeler (No. 26, bottom of the screen) is a pass-first player and Scheifele is alone in front.
And here's where Fleury shows off some of that athleticism. Going into the splits, he got over quickly enough to make an incredible toe save on Scheifele's well-placed shot. If he's a fraction of a second late, Scheifele scores, which is why reading the play in the image prior made all this possible.
If someone saw this image without seeing the full play, they would assume Scheifele puts this puck into the yawning cage. Though Fleury had no choice but to make the desperation toe save, he nearly slid completely out of the crease as a result. Crucially, he never took his eyes off the puck. As he slid, he planted his right skate into the ice to stop his momentum, anticipating he was about to need to leap in the opposite direction.
This is where Fleury is at his best: showing off not only his athleticism, but his composure and ability to improvise. After planting his right skate into the ice, he didn't immediately dive across. He made one more push with his right skate, almost a shuffle, that allowed his chest and body to take away the big part of the net when he did leap. Having the presence of mind to take that extra split-second before the dive is truly remarkable.
Fleury is no stranger to making highlight-reel saves in critical situations, but these two could arguably go down as his best ever.
(Photos courtesy: NHL.com)
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