Disgled on Friday by the Pittsburgh Penguins, it seems that one of their best networks of all time will finally return home. Many fans will claim that it happens much later than it should, but, as they say, it’s better late than never. Marc-Andre Fleury officially signed a professional try-out contract with the Penguins on Friday to play with the team against the Columbus Blue Jackets on 27 September before everyone officially expects him to withdraw from Hockey. The 40-year-old net has almost every Penguins-goaling record, and it feels oh so right to have Fleury back where he started another night in a Penguins Crease.
I am not going to poetic waxing about Fleury’s career or awards, because they can be found everywhere on the internet. However, what I will do is tell you about the time that I witnessed an early-being career Fleury is drawn from a game that I attended. This game has no other fantastic statistics to report from this competition in the middle of the Janata in Kanata, Ontario Excpet that it was my first time I saw Fleury Stop Pucks live, and it took only a little more than forty minutes.
I take you back to January 22, 2004 and the Pittsburgh Penguins went through a complete rebuild after losing players such as Mario Lemieux, Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka from the team of their previous year. The Penguins were the match against the senators of Ottawa that night 11-29-5-3 when they arrived in the Corel Center. Former Penguins Striking Patrick Lalime received the kink for the senators, while the Penguins started 2003 First Pick Marc-Andre Fleury!
It was clear that the speed and skill of the senators could be a big problem all night for the Penguins with Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa, Radek Bonk and Daniel Alfredsson who fly around the ice. My cousins, who accompanied me at the game, were senators fans thanks to the growing up near Ottawa, so I heard a lot of tjilpen and taunt all the way to the Arena. Nevertheless, my hope hoped that the Penguins could steal a victory of a solid Ottawa team strong.
8:49 In the game I was one of the only voices that cheered when Milan Kraft (do you remember?) Braked a shot past Lalime for the 1-0 lead, but that celebration was of short duration because the Alfredsson of the senators 4:13 later responded with a wrist shot that Fleury could stop to make it a 1-1 game. The penguins would reconsider the lead 1:05 later when Drake Berehowsky’s hits found enough room from the point to hit Twine at 2:05 PM, and the Penguins went up 2-1. Then Martin Havlat took over when he turned a shot in a shot at 16:40 before he added a wrist to play Ottawa 2-1 to 20 minutes at 6:14 pm.
Focus on the chirping of my party about this Rookie goalkeeper who allows three goals on twelve shots, but I promised that he would be better in the second period and with some added defensive help. After all, it would be that Alfredson and Havlat have a clear look at the net for each team, so I clung to the hope that the penguins would live up to my promise. Deep inside, I feared that it could get much worse.
Only 19 seconds in the middle frame, Peter Schaefer made it 4-2 for Ottawa on a wrist shot. The penguins would get a back on the Power play when Tom Kostopoulos shot a Drake Berehowsky at 9:47 past Lalime, but the Penguins suffered the same late fate as in the first period. Schaefer scored his second goal of the period on a wrister at 4:44 PM, and Josh Langfeld ran a shot past Fleury with 33 seconds to play for the 6-3 lead after two periods.
The second break was quite quiet when it came to chirping, and I think it was pretty clear that the senators had a solid grasp on the game. I joked that the Penguins had previously collected from a shortage of three goals, but I had no evidence that the 2004 team had ever done that. I am not even sure if they had scored six goals in one match the entire season (narrator: they didn’t have that). I may have asked a lot, but they can score three goals in one period, right?
To the surprise of my party, Jean-Sebastien Aubin was in the fold of the Penguins to start the third period when head coach Ed Olczyk closed the book on Fleury and his yellow pads’ Night. His last statistics line showed him that he stopped 17 of 23 shots, confronting for a .739 savings percentage, and he would be the keeper of Record when this night finally ended. It is noted that Brian Holzinger Shorted 2:29 scored in the third frame to bring the score to 6-4, Zdeno Chara and Steve McKenna dropped the gloves Early in the third period, and Dick Tarnstroom scored on the Power play with 2:22 to play the score at 6-5, but the penguins would fall with that 6-5 score as the senators improved until 26-12-7-3.
I don’t remember the goals that have entered so much when I remember that the bright yellow pads were kicked out to stop pucks. I remember that Fleury is fighting through screens of players such as Chris Neil and Jason Spezza, and his incredible side movement as he slid from post to post to stop goals. It was very clear that he had a lot of raw talent, but the team for him had significant defensive shortcomings when it came to helping Fleury to succeed.
Seeing Fleury Play for 39:59 On this night is still noticeable as a highlight for me as a fan. Eight days after this match was Marc-Andre Fleury Back in the Qmjhl with the Cape Breton screaming eagles While the Penguins brought him back to his junior team when the Penguins avoided to pay him a $ 3 million bonus for reaching the 25-game mark. Fleury would put an end to that 2003-04 season with a 4-14-2 record, a 3.64 goals against average, EN .896 Savings percentage because that 14th loss against the senators would be his last performance that season.
Did I have any idea that the last game of Fleury would be in the NHL until October 10, 2005? Not in the least, even though the penguins are on shaky financial grounds. What I saw that night was a solid 19-year-old little who played penguins defense behind a patchwork against a very good Ottawa Senators team. Fleury showed flashes of sparkle in his 40-minute work, but the senators were just too much on that evening of January 22, 2004. And although he did not win that night, he would add 371 more victories in his Penguins career to go with the four he earned in that season 2003-04.
While we walked to the car through the cold, fresh January air, it never came up with me that this match against the senators would be the last NHL match of Fleury that season. Because of the base of jubilant senators fans in cars and the joy of fans they passed by, it felt like I had witnessed a player who could be a building block for the return of the penguins to glory in the NHL. Coincidentally it would be a year and seven months until the day – July 22, 2005 – when the Penguins won the NHL Draft Lottery and the right to select Sidney Crosby.
It was quite clear that the Penguins had a special player that night in the nose in the nose in the nose that night, and those incredible yellow cushions were a pleasure to see how Fleury tried in vain to stop a very good senator team. After Fleury back in a Penguins -Uniform for one pre -season match before he officially hangs the skates, the circle completes. My hope is that he has the yellow pads the last time, so that today’s fans get the same Fleury experience!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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