The Flower finally had some fun.
And no, that's not an isolated reference to Marc-Andre Fleury's 33 saves Thursday night in the Penguins' 6-2 slamming of the Stars at PPG Paints Arena.
Nor is it even spotlighting that one spectacular sequence midway through the third period, when the lead being preserved was just one:
https://vimeo.com/193991339
No, the reference is aimed at actual fun.
Because this performance, among his best of the season, followed an 0-4-2 November in which he came close to questioning his future in Pittsburgh by telling our Josh Yohe last week in St. Paul, Minn.: “It’s definitely a little different than what I’m used to. No doubt about it. It’s been hard for me. I’m just trying to find ways to feel normal, to feel good.”
That was then, fresh off a flat loss to the Wild. And this was now, with Fleury fending off an opponent that some had forecast to be a Stanley Cup contender, and his teammates, who should have been more tired from having played the previous night in Brooklyn, finishing the job with a three-goal third.
"It was rough month, that's for sure. And I'm glad it's over," Fleury said. "You know, I haven't had much fun the past few weeks, losing and giving up a lot of goals. So that was a fun game to play. I made some saves. My teammates were great. It was just fun again, fun to play again."
You could see it all over his face when the cameras and microphones surrounded him ...
https://vimeo.com/193984487
... and it would become clearer still a few minutes later.
A brief aside, if you will ...
I've known Fleury since that Saturday afternoon in 2003 when the Penguins drafted him first overall. He's been through a ton, both good and bad befitting this starcrossed franchise that has seen its stars both celebrated and challenged in so many ways during the years. But he hasn't changed, hardly at all.
In June of that year, I flew up to Sorel-Tracy, his hometown in Quebec, about an hour north of Montreal. And of all that I documented over that fascinating couple of days with him, his family, his friends and neighbors, nothing stands out as a memory quite like watching him and younger sister Marylene playing soccer in the back yard of their home.
The parents insisted Marylene, a soccer standout at her high school, not to mention basketball, flag football and a brief foray into ice hockey, was the superior athlete in every way. And it didn't take long to see why. On the sloped grass hill, using a miniature plastic soccer net, she was the shooter and he, naturally, was the keeper. She poured it on, putting him through every twist and turn and boomer and back-heel she knew. And he, in turn, was flinging his skinny teenage frame all over that hill, with a recklessness that surely would have had the Penguins' management cringing had they seen it.
He would do anything to stop that ball.
When it was done, both brushed themselves off in the best spirit of a sibling rivalry, and the parents, since most often he didn't stop that ball, declared Marylene the winner.
It was fun. I knew right then that, no matter how good or bad he would be in the NHL, hockey would never be a job for him. It'd always be — no, it would have to be — fun.
So, on this night, I asked Fleury if this game, this outcome had been fun.
"It really was," Fleury replied. "The guys did a great job, and that's a pretty good team over there with all those scorers. It's nice to win."
So, I continued, that's really all this has been about, isn't it?
"You mean winning?"
Yeah, winning.
"I think so. Winning makes everything good. You can see the mood in here right now. Guys are happy. I'm happy. Everything is good."
The capacity crowd was happy, too, beginning with Crosby's superlative tiebreaking goal late in the second period — a double-tap off poor Antti Niemi's back — then with Fleury making that matter with that mad scramble in the third. When the whistle finally blew, the place stood and chanted 'Fleu-ry! Fleu-ry!' with a passion that hadn't been heard in the place for some time.
Some athletes, I mentioned, claim not to notice stuff like that.
"Ha! Not me. I hear it. I appreciate it. You know, the fans here ..."
He paused a moment.
"The fans here have always been good to me. They always pick me when I needed it, when something didn't go well. I appreciate that. It felt good."
So he's not going to go running off to the GM to demand a trade?
In spite of the semi-joking way I phrased the question, he came back dead serious.
"No, I'm not."
I asked if a third championship ring remained his No. 1 priority for this season, even if that means legitimately accepting sharing the crease with Matt Murray.
"I want that. We all do. We know what kind of team we have. We know we can do it. And besides ..."
Uh-oh. The impish grin was back.
"I'd like to have three. Kuny's got three. Only one in here. That would be nice."
Chris Kunitz won one in Anaheim, two in Pittsburgh.
From the sound of Fleury's voice — after a pretty neat victory rather than a bummer of a month — he genuinely wants that.
From the sound of his teammates, they fully expect that'll be fulfilled.
"I can't even describe for you how great Flower's been through all this," Ian Cole would tell me. "His attitude, his approach, his professionalism; it's all been unbelievable."
"That Minnesota game was tough," Crosby said. "We didn't give him or ourselves a chance to win, the way we played. Especially him. So it's nice for him to be rewarded tonight. He made a bunch of huge saves for us."
Listen to Patric Hornqvist, too:
https://vimeo.com/193984509
Mike Sullivan brought it up, as well, when asked in his news conference about Fleury's assessment of his November.
"I can certainly understand the circumstance," the coach said. "You know, Marc is a guy who's accustomed to playing every night. And the reality is, we feel we have two No. 1 goalies here right now. So, we're making the most of it. I think those guys are both doing a terrific job as far as doing everything they can to prepare themselves to play."
Then, of this performance, Sullivan added, "I thought he was real good tonight."
Don't overthink why.
Stop overthinking all of this, actually.
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