Fleury says he's OK competing with Lehner for Golden Knights job

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury practiced with the Vegas Golden Knights for a second straight day Saturday and said he is OK if there is an open goalie competition with Robin Lehner.

"[Peter DeBoer is] the coach. Whatever he decides, I'm good with," Fleury said. "At the end of the day, all that matters is winning, that's why we are all here. Playoffs come and you have to be selfless and do what is right for the team. I just want to win, it doesn't matter how it is. ... We'll see how it goes."

Vegas said Fleury missed the first three practice sessions because of maintenance, and DeBoer said Wednesday it had "nothing to do with a positive [COVID-19] test or anything like that."

"Since March I had been thinking about, 'When are we going to have camp and start this?', and then I'm not there, so I was a little mad about that," Fleury said.

As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

"It was just a 35-year-old goalie that had been through five weeks (during voluntary workouts) and pushed himself really hard, like our whole group did, to get to camp," DeBoer said Friday. "We've got a longer runway here than it looks. We've got a lot of practice time when you look at Day One of camp to when we start our round-robin games (Aug. 3)."

Fleury was replaced by Matt Murray as the Pittsburgh Penguins' starting goalie during the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs and they won the Stanley Cup. Fleury was then the backup to Murray during the playoffs when they won the Cup again in 2017.

Lehner played three games for the Golden Knights after he was traded to them Feb. 24.

"It's a great luxury for us," DeBoer said of having Fleury and Lehner. "I'm not going to be afraid to play either. I don't know what that'll look like. Maybe it'll be one guy starting the majority, or we'll go back and forth. I'm going to keep an open mind on this because of the situation and the fact we have two great goalies."

The Golden Knights (39-24-8, .606 points percentage), will play in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers against the St. Louis Blues (42-19-10, .662), Colorado Avalanche (42-20-8, .657) and Dallas Stars (37-24-8, .594) to determine seeding for the Western Conference playoffs. The round-robin and four best-of-5 qualifier series will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the 12 Western teams, beginning Aug. 1.

The Golden Knights play their first game of the round-robin against the Stars. They play an exhibition game against the Arizona Coyotes on July 30.

"[I have] huge confidence in both guys," DeBoer said Saturday. "We haven't scored a lot of goals in the scrimmages because I think the goaltending has been great at both ends. We've created opportunities, chances and good looks, but I think both guys are dialed-in here. That's a great feeling for coaches, but also for teammates."

Fleury was 27-16-5 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage in 48 games this season, his worst statistics in three seasons with the Golden Knights.

A Stanley Cup winner as Penguins starter in 2009, Fleury has started every playoff game in Golden Knights history, going 16-11 with a 2.37 GAA, .922 save percentage and five shutouts in 27 games. Vegas lost the 2018 Stanley Cup Final to the Washington Capitals in five games.

The Golden Knights acquired Lehner in a three-team trade with the Chicago Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs, and he was 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA and .940 save percentage with Vegas before the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. Malcolm Subban, who was traded to Chicago, was 9-7-3 with a 3.18 GAA and .890 save percentage in 20 games with Vegas this season. Oscar Dansk is the other goalie in Vegas camp.

"Everyone wanted to be smart with 'Flower,'" DeBoer said after Fleury's first practice. "He was back out there today, he looked great. I know he's excited to be back, and I know it was nice for the guys to see him too."