Theo Fleury didn’t flinch when a reporter offered that tonight’s Rangers game vs. Colorado would be a good test.
“I think it’s a good test,” the winger replied, “for them.”
Fleury then went back to inscribing the letters “NYPD” on his new skates. But lest you believe that the diminutive Ranger suffers from a severe case of false bravado, you might want to sneak a look at the two teams. The Blueshirts are coming off Sunday night’s 6-2 thrashing of Atlanta, a victory that pushed them to 7-0-0-1 in their last eight games and catapulted them to the Eastern Conference lead with 28 points.
Meanwhile, the Avalanche have recorded three straight shutouts, but they’re still struggling offensively, notching only four goals during the three games. Prior to the shutouts, the Avs were also mired in a six-game winless skid.
So let’s call it a test for both teams. The Rangers may be conference leaders right now, but these are still the champs we’re talking about here. And this is still Patrick Roy we’re talking about in goal, although lately you might have confused him for the Hoover Dam in pads.
Through much of his 17-year career, the 36-year-old Roy has done it all, including backstopping his teams to four Stanley Cups. Yet the future Hall-of-Famer had never performed at the level he’s reached this week. Roy hasn’t allowed a goal in 183 minutes and 57 seconds, and tonight he can tie Bill Durnan’s 1948-49 modern record of four straight doughnuts.
How does he keep doing it?
“[He] hates to lose,” said Fleury, who played with Roy in Colorado for 15 games in 1998-99. “He’s such an unbelievable competitor that he’s carrying that team on his back right now. He loves that.”
According to Low, Roy’s brilliance of late is part of the Avs’ recent commitment to defense.
“Patrick, of course, has been on fire,” Low said. “And they send four back lots of times, so they’re deep.”
Low notes, however, that the Avalanche do allow for a number of chances. Based on the Blueshirts’ recent lamp-lighting, many of those chances will likely come from the white-hot FLY line of Fleury, Eric Lindros and Mike York. The unit has tallied 49 points in the last 12 games, including a downright absurd 11 points on Sunday.
“The more games we go through, the more we’re getting used to each other,” York said. “We also talk a lot more on the ice now, letting each other know where we’re going to be.”
Added Fleury, “The more the line gets on a roll, the more excited you get.”
Fleury and York then joined teammates in the lounge at Rye, as a sports show broadcast highlights from the Rangers’ destruction of Atlanta. There were smiles all around, a genuine feel-good atmosphere as everyone sat riveted to the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^screen.
Tonight all eyes are on the FLY line again. And on the man trying to stop it.