Feb 22, 2007 3 min read

CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien said he’ll bench goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and start backup Jocelyn Thibault when the Penguins play at the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Therrien has been openly critical of Fleury since Monday’s 6-5 loss to the New York Islanders.

“We’re not satisfied. He’s got to upgrade his game and he knows it,” Therrien said after Wednesday’s practice. “It’s part of my responsibility to make sure that he’ll get better.”

Fleury has started most of the Penguins’ games this season and was in the net for the better part of the team’s recent 14-0-2 streak that saw them climb from 13th to fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Fleury, the first overall pick in the 2003 draft, is 29-13-7 with a 2.92 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage. In his last five starts, he is 4-1-0, but his goals-against average has ballooned to 4.40, his save percentage is a sub-par .847 and he has allowed at least four goals in each game.

“I can understand why he wasn’t happy with me last game,” Fleury said. “I don’t remember the last four games, but I thought we won three of them and that’s the main thing.”

In Fleury’s first eight starts in December, he went 3-4-1 with a 4.26 goals-against average and a .840 save percentage. He was twice pulled from starts in favor of Thibault, who has played well in spot starts lately despite having been on the bench for most of the season.

Thibault won his last two games, including a 3-2 victory Sunday against Washington in which he stopped 29 of 31 shots.

“I don’t want to be surprised when I play because that’s why you work every day,” Thibault said. “I got a chance to play Sunday and now I get to play (Thursday), so I’ll try to jump on that opportunity and I’m always ready to play.”

Thibault was a starting goaltender in Quebec, Colorado, Montreal and Chicago before signing a two-year deal with Pittsburgh prior to last season.

He has played at least 60 games in six different seasons, and says he understands how difficult it can be to stay sharp through an entire season.

“You don’t get to practice a lot because you play a lot, so sometimes you forget about the basics, so in a way it’s nice to have that middle ground where you can play with some feel and not forget about the basics of what you try to do out there,” Thibault said.

Fleury spent a lot of time Wednesday working with goaltending coach Gilles Meloche.

“We were just trying to keep it simple, just getting in front of the puck and just get hit by it,” Fleury said.

The Penguins finish the season with 23 games in the next 45 days, and they will need Fleury if they are to qualify for their first Stanley Cup playoff berth since 2001, Therrien said.

“This is a kid we like and we want him to succeed and we need him,” he said. “On the other hand, we need him to be good and that’s all I ask from players.”