Dave Molinari: Fleury has been hot on the ice

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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OTTAWA -- Those reflexes -- the ones that make it seem as if Marc-Andre Fleury's shadow operates on a seven-second delay -- are as sharp as ever.

The left hand still moves so fast that if it were any quicker some of his glove saves might be accompanied by a sonic boom.

And the 500-megawatt smile that has been a part of him forever hasn't dimmed.

But Fleury is not the same goalie he was when the Penguins claimed him with the No. 1 choice in the 2003 entry draft. Or when he spent his first full season in pro hockey the winter of 2004-05. Or when the NHL shut down for the Olympics last month, for that matter.

He has, in the past five games, raised his game to heights he hadn't previously reached in the NHL, stopping 145 of 155 shots and making it possible for the Penguins to win three of those games, all against teams likely to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs.

"He's been playing spectacular," forward Ryan Malone said yesterday.

Even Fleury, who doesn't seem terribly comfortable praising his own work, allows that, "to be able to have five straight good games is probably the best sequence I've had."

Coach Michel Therrien said yesterday he hadn't decided whether to start Fleury or Sebastien Caron when the Penguins face Ottawa at 7:38 p.m. today at Scotiabank Place, and a case could be made for giving Fleury the night off.

After all, Caron can't be expected to keep an edge on his game if he doesn't get an occasional start. And there's always the possibility that the Senators, who have scored a league-high 266 goal, will make the night miserable for whoever is in goal against them.

But if Therrien decides to go with Caron, it shouldn't be because he's concerned about protecting Fleury's ego. Or his stats. Fleury made it clear yesterday that he enjoys the challenge of facing a high-octane offense such as Ottawa's.

"Maybe it's better for the [goals-against] average if you play a worse team," he said, "but it's always a good challenge when you play a team like that."

That Fleury has taken his game to a rarefied level should surprise no one. The issue never has been whether he would consistently perform at an elite level, but when it would happen.

At age 21, he's doing it a bit earlier than probably should have been anticipated, although it's reasonable to expect him to stumble a few more times along the way.

There never was a question about his talent or potential, however. Defenseman Alain Nasreddine realized that while playing with Fleury in Wilkes-Barre last season, but even he is struck by the way Fleury's game has evolved over a relatively short period of time.

"It's unbelievable, the maturity he's gained over just one year," Nasreddine said. "It makes you think, 'How good is this guy going to be, down the road?'

"Last year, you could tell he had the talent. You could tell he was quick. He still had to learn about positioning. He was relying on his talent a little too much. Now, he's really got it figured out."

Not all of it, actually. Not yet. Fleury is only 21 years old and plays one of the most demanding positions in team sports; he'll be traveling on the learning curve for years to come.

Indeed, that's the thing that should really concern other teams. If Fleury can play this well when he's this young, how tough will he be to beat when he's accumulated another three or four years of knowledge?

"He's already a top-notch goalie," Nasreddine said. "You can only think he's going to get better with experience and maturity."

Therrien watched Fleury go through an up-and-down season with the Baby Penguins a year ago, and still was in Wilkes-Barre when American Hockey League shooters found Fleury to be all but unbeatable last fall.

"Early in the season, he was playing this way in Wilkes-Barre," Therrien said. "He was really sharp."

Sharp enough that, coupled with the subpar goaltending the Penguins were getting at the time, management abandoned its attempt to save the roughly $3 million in bonus money Fleury stood to earn if he got regular work in the NHL and summoned him from the minors.

As it turns out, Fleury isn't going to cash in on the bulk of his potential bonus earnings, but he has made it clear that the only goaltending competition on the Penguins next fall will be for the right to be his backup.

"Every year, you expect a young player to improve," Therrien said. "His development isn't finished."

(Dave Molinari can be reached at 412-263-1144.)