Robin Lehner to start Game 1 vs. Canucks over Marc-Andre Fleury

Goaltender Robin Lehner will start Game 1 of the Golden Knights’ second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night in Edmonton, Alberta, one day after Marc-Andre Fleury’s agent publicly voiced his displeasure with coach Pete DeBoer.

Allan Walsh, who has known Fleury since the goaltender was 15, created controversy with a single tweet Saturday. In a since-deleted post, Walsh tweeted a photo of Fleury playing hockey with a sword in his back. The blade had a single word inscribed on it: “DeBoer.”

The tweet appeared to be a not-so-subtle reference to Fleury’s lack of playing time this postseason. Including Sunday, Lehner has started seven of the Knights’ nine playoff games. The trade deadline acquisition is 5-1 with a .904 save percentage and 2.44 goals-against average.

In his two postseason starts, Fleury is 2-0 with an .886 save percentage and a 2.50 goals-against average. The 35-year-old attempted to douse any fires his agent started in a video conference call with the media Sunday morning.

Fleury said he asked Walsh to delete the tweet. He also said he met with DeBoer and general manager Kelly McCrimmon on Saturday to talk about the post.

Fleury declined to answer when specifically asked if he knew about the tweet before it was posted.

“Bottom line, we all want to win, right?” Fleury said. “That’s why we’re here. I don’t like being a distraction for my team.”

Lehner has earned DeBoer’s confidence quickly. The 2019 Vezina Trophy finalist appeared in three games with the Knights before the COVID-19 pandemic paused the NHL season.

Since then, the 29-year-old has done almost nothing to justify removing him from the net. He beat Dallas and Colorado in the round robin, the two teams playing in the other Western Conference semifinal series.

Lehner was 3-1 in the first-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, his former team. He has yet to allow more than three goals in a game as a Knight.

DeBoer has not publicly anointed Lehner as his starter for the rest of the playoffs, however. He continually has said he plans to play both goaltenders and deploy them in whatever way best helps the Knights lift the Stanley Cup.

“They are tough decisions to make only from a point of, particularly goaltenders, they want to play,” DeBoer said after Fleury’s lone first-round start. “Starting goaltenders want to play. They want to get on a roll. They want that feeling of being in there every night.

“But I think we have to ask ourselves, is that what’s best for our team and our group, or are we better spotting them off each other? I don’t know the answer to that, but so far we’ve gotten great goaltending from both guys. So we’re going to continue to evaluate that as we go.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.