Sharks not surprised by Fleury's success with Golden Knights

SAN JOSE -- The success Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury experienced in the regular season has carried over into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is hardly a surprise to the San Jose Sharks.
Sharks forward Logan Couture said Friday he watched a few minutes of the Golden Knights' sweep of the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference First Round and it was more than enough time for Couture to realize that Fleury is on a roll.
"Each time I turned the TV on, it seemed like he was making a big save," Couture said Friday. "He's playing at the top of his game. He's playing very, very well."

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After scoring 16 goals in a first-round sweep of the Anaheim Ducks, the Sharks will play Fleury and the Golden Knights in the second round. Vegas will host the first two games of the series on dates to be determined. Fleury, who won three Stanley Cup championships with the Pittsburgh Penguins, saved 127 of 130 shots against the Kings, with an 0.65 goals-against average and .977 save percentage in the series.
"It doesn't surprise me at all," said Sharks forward Eric Fehr, who was Fleury's teammate in Pittsburgh from 2015-17. "He's been a good goalie in this league for a lot of years. Especially with the team in front of him that he has defending as strong as they do, he's going to stop a lot of pucks.
"He's an unbelievable goalie. He's a great athlete. He's one of those goalies that are fun to watch. He doesn't just rely on positioning. He reads the play well."

Fleury played 13 seasons for the Penguins after being the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft and was their starting goalie when they won the Stanley Cup in 2009. Fleury lost his starting job to Matt Murray two seasons ago when the Penguins won the first of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, defeating the Sharks in the Cup Final in 2016.
The Penguins left him unprotected for the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, when he was selected by the Golden Knights.
"He's always been a top-end goaltender," said Sharks defenseman Paul Martin, who played five seasons with Fleury in Pittsburgh (2010-15). "He's been in the League for a long time. He had a couple rough years in (Pittsburgh) where he got a lot of heat for playoff exits. Then Murray came in and kind of took the job and won the Cup.
"It's always, 'Is he the premier goaltender or is he not?' I believe he's always been there. He's proven it this year, being healthy for the most part and having the No. 1 spot and obviously with last round playing the way that he did."
Fleury, 33, went 29-13-4 during the regular season and had NHL career highs in goals-against average (2.24) and save percentage (.927), helping the Golden Knights (51-24-7) win the Pacific Division in their inaugural season.
"He's always been an elite goalie, always an elite athlete," Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. "He got into a situation [in Pittsburgh] where he was behind a guy who's been all-world in the last few years. I think you're just seeing what he is, and that's a great goaltender."