Faceoff Factor

The Flower Has Bloomed

Jesse Marshall | Pittsburgh Penguins

May 6, 09:57 AM | Hype this story!

There are certain games the Pittsburgh Penguins have played in my lifetime that I will always carry with me in my memory banks; from two Stanley Cups, to dramatic overtime game winners, to the NHL’s winter classic, the Penguins have taken us all on a roller coaster ride throughout the last several years.

One memory I will always cherish, though, is that of a game that was played in the Igloo on October 10th, 2003.

It was the first game of the year, the home opener against the Los Angeles Kings. It was Eddie Olzyck’s first game behind the bench. It was the debut of a half-dozen AHL’ers to the big club, and, as we found out late the night before, it would be the debut of our #1 draft pick, the goaltender from Cape Breton, Marc-Andre Fleury.

The atmosphere at the arena was unreal for a team dotted by names like Matt Murley, Drake Berehowsky, Nolan Baumgartner, and Brian Holzinger.

I’ll never forget the hype leading up to the drop of the puck. The crowd was in a Fleury-frenzy. Just thirty-eight seconds into the game, Eric Belanger had a shorthanded breakaway chance down the far boards; he was one on one with Fleury.

And he scored.

“So much for that big debut”, I thought.

That night I learned to never jump to conclusions and that the first impression isn’t always right.

The Kings iced their 3-0 victory with an empty netter late in the game. Fleury faced an onslaught of 49 shots that night, saving all but two. One he did save, however, was a penalty shot by Esa Pirnes, a name I will always remember.

I’ll never forget the call Mike Lange made after that penalty shot as the crowd chanted “Fleur-ry!” over and over again.

“He’s found a home in the city of Pittsburgh. Marc. Andre. Fleury”.

Cue the tumults and years of criticism. A miscue in the World Jr. Championship. A few bad starts in the AHL playoffs. Struggles with rebound control. Rides back and forth from Wilkes-Barre that happened so fast a normal goalie would get whiplash.

But that’s what the normal course of development entails. In a city that’s been graced with superstars like Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, maybe a few of us got spoiled.

It’s so easy to forget that when Fleury took the ice against the Los Angeles Kings on that October night, he had yet to reach the age of nineteen.

Fleury seemed to be on the cusp of finally breaking out last year when he achieved his first 40 win season and lead the Penguins to the playoffs. But he suffered from another slow start this year and then the notorious high ankle sprain right as he started to turn the ship around. The stellar play of Ty Conklin in lieu of Fleury had many clamoring for the still-young goaltender to be benched.

But watching from the box taught Fleury something he could never learn on the ice.

Now, with the world watching, Marc-Andre Fleury has been dominant in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The same stage that critics said he didn’t have the nerves to handle. His .938 save percentage is uncontested among NHL goaltenders in the post-season. The streak that he has been on since returning from injury has been so long that people are starting to forget the rough bumps in the road from years ago.

Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Sergei Gonchar will lead the Penguins into battle against the Flyers this weekend, but make no mistake about it, Marc-Andre Fleury is the wall they will lean on as they do battle.