Martin Biron: Fleury Needs To Play When Healthy
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) – NHL on TSN analyst and former Flyers, Rangers, Islanders, and Sabres goaltender Martin Biron joined "The Fan Morning Show" on Monday to offer his thoughts on the Penguins, as they prepare to face the Capitals in round two.
Biron lauded Matt Murray for the resiliency that he showed in his first playoff series, but offered a caveat to that praise.
"Do I think that the Penguins can go all the way and win a Stanley Cup with Matt Murray in net? I don't know that that's possible," Biron said. "I'd like to see Marc-Andre Fleury back in the net at some point, to be able to give them an even greater chance of going all the way. I think Fleury, the way he played this year, had to be considered as possibly the MVP for the Penguins…so I think that I'd like to see Fleury back, to give them a better chance to go all the way."
"But, Murray's got tons of talent. (He) really is an up-and-coming goalie in the NHL, the same way we've seen Johnny Gibson in Anaheim kind of being the next wave of young goaltenders, and obviously, you look back even at Carey Price…we knew he had tons of talent, we knew he had the mental toughness, he was calm in net - it just took him a couple of years to get to the level he wanted to be (at), and it might be the same thing for Matt Murray."
To Biron, Fleury's excellent play this season is impossible to ignore, and it's better to get him in the net as soon as possible than it is to wait until Murray gives you a reason to make the switch.
"Go with your best guys when they're healthy," Biron said. "Obviously, the consensus here is people always saying, like, well, you would want to wait until Murray falters a little bit. But, you don't want to wait for that, because, obviously, Marc-Andre's going to need possibly a couple of periods to get himself going, right?…He's going to have to get into a rhythm, and you don't want to wait until you're down 2-0 in the series to give him that warmup. You want to just go with your best player."
"I would give him a start as soon as we all come down to knowing that he's 100 percent healthy," Biron said. "Then, he plays."
That all being said, Biron made clear that he has been blown away by Murray's performance in the playoffs.
"I think he'll be around for a long time," Biron said. "It seems like nothing really phases him. Even in Game 5…he's just like, okay, no big deal, I'm okay. I'm here, I'll make the next save, and we'll win this game. And that's exactly what happened."
The interview can be heard here: