Minnesota Wild make a surprising goaltending decision for game 2

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Ryan
May 4, 2022 (3:38 PM)

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When Fleury first arrived in Minnesota, he took off like he was shot out of a cannon. He was setting records, racking up wins and making huge saves. The Wild fans even started a few celebration for him, by throwing flowers on the ice, which makes me question why that was never done before.

While Fleury started extremely well in Minnesota, he finished rather poorly. In 4 of his last 5 games he had a .893 save percentage OR BELOW. The Wild chose to go with Fleury for game 1 against the Blues and while the entire game cannot be blamed on Fleury as the Wild didn't score a single goal, Fleury only had a .871 save percentage, which will not win you any games in the playoffs.

Cam Talbot on the other hand, who handled the majority of the teams workload before Fleury arrived, was thriving at the end of the season. Since March, Talbot has gone 13-0-3 and has not lost a game in regulation, which includes 3 shutouts.

Talbot was outplaying Fleury since his arrival, and while he was in net for the regulation losses against the Blues in the regular season, he deserves a shot to prove himself in the playoffs against them, especially with Fleury continuing to struggle.

But for game 2, the Wild have chosen to go back to Fleury. Is this the right decision?