The NHL career of Marc-Andre Fleury was off to an auspicious start. Just 38 seconds into his first game, the 18-year-old Pittsburgh goaltender watched as Los Angeles' Eric Belanger skated in on a breakaway.
Belanger tucked a wrist shot neatly into the top-right corner of the net to give his team an early 1-0 lead. It was the first shot Fleury had seen as a professional, and it ended up in the net.
Unfazed, the No. 1 overall pick in this spring's draft calmly skated out of his crease and made a slow, gradual circle behind the right face off dot. Fleury returned and then settled back in front of the goal.
Fleury would face 47 more shots on the night. He would stop 46 of them, including a penalty shot in the third period.
The performance that Fleury put on against the Kings could be considered outstanding for future hall-of-fame members like Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy, let alone an 18-year-old from Sorel, Quebec.
Need a little more perspective? Consider that Fleury is younger than probably 90 percent of you reading this column.
Though it was just one game, Fleury has already established himself as the future savior of the Penguins, the greatest hope for the franchise since another French-Canadian by the name of Lemieux first stepped off a plane in Pittsburgh.
What pressure?
The parallels between Fleury and Lemieux are scary. Both were No. 1 overall picks who arrived in town knowing barely a word of English. Both came packaged with ridiculous expectations to resuscitate a struggling franchise. And, in an odd bit of synergy, while Lemieux scored a goal on his very first NHL shot, Fleury had the first shot he saw go past him.
Lemieux entered the league with absolute scrubs playing on his wings and Fleury gets to rely on guys named Nolan Baumgartner and Drake Berehowsky to play in front of him on defense. The fact that he even had to face 48 shots in his first game is testament to his teammates' skill -- or lack thereof.
Now, not only does Fleury share the ice with Lemieux, he also shared a house with him in the preseason. Much as former Pens' General Manager Eddie Johnston had Lemieux live with a local family to adjust to life in America, Mario invited Fleury to stay with his family, remembering the tremendous impact it had on him at that age.
Of course, Fleury is a goaltender, not a center like Lemieux. Yet it is Fleury's experiences playing goal that give him his greatest asset -- the way he handles himself on and off the ice. This may be the one area where he has a teenage Lemieux beat.
Simply put, Fleury possesses incredible poise that no 18-year-old should be able to command. Nothing about his situation or surroundings seems to rattle him. His play and demeanor in net is that of a 10-year veteran, not a rookie playing in his first game.
He stoned sharpshooter Zigmund Palffy on a breakaway. He deflected a point blank shot by Alexander Frolov away with the edge of his skate, exhibiting lateral movement that only a few elite goalies in the world can match.
When Esa Pirnes was awarded a penalty shot, Fleury simply poked the puck right off of his stick when he broke in. It was an awe-inspiring performance and prompted a standing-room-only Mellon Arena crowd to stay and applaud him, even though the team fell, 3-0.
Even after eliciting no fewer than a dozen ovations and chants of his name, Fleury took it all in stride. When he turned around in net to grab a drink in between whistles, he got to watch a group of 10 fans repeatedly bowing to him, a la Mike Myers and Dana Carvey in Wayne's World.
Even this reaction didn't seem to faze the rookie. He gave a very subtle nod to his admirers on one occasion, but never lost his head.
In the end, it comes down to the fact that there even was a sellout on hand for a Penguins game. Fleury energized the dingy old Igloo in a way that even the great Lemieux hasn't been able to in the past two seasons. Even with a very untalented team in front of him, people came out to see the phenom play. And they liked what they saw.
Lemieux knows that Fleury will be the key to the team's future success as well as anyone. After stopping the penalty shot, Mario was the first one to congratulate Fleury -- a wink and a nod with a pat on the shoulder.
From one savior to the next.
