PITTSBURGH — Marc-Andre Fleury is many things. A Stanley Cup winner early in his career. A maddeningly inconsistent goalie in the middle, except for the postseason, when he was consistently bad. Then, the most reliable player on his team when it needed him the most.
Now, he's pretty good. He's also an unfailingly nice human, so of course he'd describe Thursday's Cup banner raise at PPG Paints Arena, ahead of a 3-2 shootout win over the Capitals, as loaded with "good memories."
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He may even mean it — but really, the memories shouldn't be all that good. He kept the Penguins afloat last season in the midst of an offensive power outage and a coaching change, then was sidelined by a concussion ahead of the playoffs. Matt Murray took his job and ran with it, minus a few brief hiccups.
It was Murray in net when Pittsburgh clinched the Cup in San Jose. He's the guy with the best memories. Fleury's are largely relegated to sitting on the bench, staying positive and waiting for a chance that came and went in the Eastern Conference finals.
It would've been Murray in net on Thursday, had he not been hurt during the World Cup of Hockey. A year from now, it'll probably be Murray, too — Pittsburgh pays Fleury too much for too long to split time, and the expansion draft looms.
Until then, though, he's a Penguin. Right now, he has a chance to take a stronger grasp on the job than he ever would've gotten had Murray not broken a bone in his hand. The 22-year-old franchise-goalie-in-waiting is set to miss about a month, and it's deeply difficult to imagine him taking control when he returns if Fleury throws up another .926 save percentage in October.
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That's what he did in 2015, while the Penguins started the three-month, Mike Johnston-aided sleepwalk that cost the coach his job. And that's the road Fleury started down against Washington; he stopped 43 of the 45 shots Washington threw at him, including six in overtime. The best was a chest save going across the crease on T.J. Oshie — and then, as he usually is, he was good enough in the shootout, stopping Alex Ovechkin to clinch it.
"I'm so happy for him, honestly. A tough year for him last year, when Murray came in," winger Patric Hornqvist said. "He's such a professional guy and probably one of the best teammates I ever met. I'm really glad for him and I know he's gonna play well."
Hornqvist scored Pittsburgh's first goal of this season. He also scored their final goal of 2015-16, an empty netter in Game 6 against the Sharks that, of course, Fleury watched.
Through it all, it was tough not to feel bad for him; part of that stems from his personality, but another chunk is simple human nature. It wasn't all that fair, and for as good a job as he did of answering questions about how good another guy was playing, and how it felt to be a spectator for a run he deserved as much as anyone, it was impossible to believe that he wasn't just trying to convince other people. He probably had to convince himself; nobody is that nice.
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But, again, Fleury is close.
"It's great for Marc," coach Mike Sullivan said. "We're thrilled for how hard he battled to get back last year. It was a difficult circumstance for him personally. He's worked extremely hard to get to this point."
So, here he is; his 11th (and probably final) opening night start with the team that drafted him first overall in 2003 is in the books.
"(They) gave me a chance to realize my dream, being in the NHL," Fleury said. "Such a good organization, the fans obviously have been great all those years ... I’m glad I got to start that game."
Maybe in June, he'll get to start the better one and get a banner of his own.