Pittsburgh Penguin forever: Marc -Andre Fleury’s Legacy in Pittsburgh – Hockey Writer – Pittsburgh Penguin

In 2003, the situation in the Pittsburgh Penguin Organization looked very bleak. The team just missed the second season of the playoffs. Jaromir Jagr has been out for two seasons and Alexei Kovalev has just been traded. All Penguin fans are left with Mario Lemieux and the uncertainty of what will happen in the next few years.

The Penguins won the third pick at the 2003 NHL entry draft in Nashville, Tennessee. They need a big component to build on the new era of Penguin Hockey. They traded the first-choice draft pick and chose Marc-Andre Fleury, who they hope to be the goalkeepers for the stars. He ended up becoming more.

Related: Penguins’ Tristan Jarry continues to plead for his case to become the team’s starter

It’s hard to say how many fans in Pittsburgh admire Fleury. He has a personality that makes him love everyone who watches him play. He is a man who loves entertainment and plays hockey games with a childlike enthusiasm. He had a heart on his sleeve, and the people of Pittsburgh praised it.

As he watched his last matchup against the Penguins on the past Sunday, it made me want to reflect on some of the more memorable moments of his career.

Fleury debuted on opening night in 2003

The first time he started with a penguin was when he was only 18 years old. I was in the arena that night, and the buildings buzzed because everyone wanted to see hope in those dark years. Fleury dazzled fans with his athleticism and quick left and right movements, and he stopped the night with free throws.

Even though he lost 3-0 to the Los Angeles Kings to two goals, he is undoubtedly a star. Fans don’t care much about the outcome because they know where they might be in that season. What they care about is seeing the potential of the future and making their dreams wild.

I think in their craziest dreams, they could have imagined the outcome of Fleury and the Penguin. If you told me that night that when I walked out of Mellon Arena, Fleury would win three Stanley Cups with the Penguins and earn his second career win in NHL history, I would say it was a dream dream. It is not a dream, it becomes a reality.

Fleury’s first rejection

From Fleury’s rookie season 2003-2004 Penguins (2003-2004 Penguins) and not many goals. On October 30, 2003, the Penguins had to score one goal against the Chicago Blackhawks, but thankfully, Fleury stopped all 20 goals he faced to win his first career.

It’s what the Penguin fans feel like they have a goalkeeper who can create victory for them, not just maintain them. If you want to win the Stanley Cup, you need a goalkeeper who can steal games in the regular season and playoffs. It’s been a while since Pittsburgh had a goalkeeper who could do this.

Fleury’s first playoff game

This is not a beautiful memory of the penguin. In the spring of 2007, the Penguins were bewildered by the Ottawa Senators in the Stanley Cup final in the first game of the playoffs.

What is memorable for me is how people react to Fleury. When their team wins, the goalkeepers win all the glory, and instead, when they lose, all the responsibility.

However, Pittsburgh fans have a certain preference for Fleury, which is hard not to do so. As I mentioned before, he wore his heart on his sleeve and you can see how bad he wanted to win, so when times are tough it’s hard to open him.

Don’t get me wrong, of course some people will open him from time to time, but overall, the Penguin fans are thinner.

2008 Stanley Cup Final 5

The penguin forces the Guardian of the Cup to put Lord Stanley’s cup back in his case. Maxime Talbot

Although Petr Sykora ended up winning the game, for me, the most memorable part of the game was Fleury’s performance. Penguin hangs on a line. Fleury faced 58 shots in the game, stopping 55 shots, including every shot he faced in overtime.

It was by far the biggest stage of his career, and he was striking when he saved a competitive team.

2009 Eastern Conference Semi-finals 7

The capital of Washington and the Penguins played very little profit in the round-trip game. Every game is so tight that any mistake can end your team’s season. Penguin made this mistake in just three minutes in this game.

Somehow, they allowed the NHL’s greatest goalkeeper Alexander Ovechkin to get off the ice and stand out before it even snowed on it. Ovechkin corralling hockey, every fan in Washington, D.C. stands up as he gets back to zero at Fleury. Ovechkin took some action and walked the side, but Fleury shone with leather and snatched Ovechkin.

I believe that in terms of the direction of the competition between the Penguin and the Capital, it is a fork of the road moment. Fleury allowed the goal, perhaps Ovechkin won three cups before Sidney Crosby improved his first game. At the biggest moment of his career, against the best goalkeeper we’ve ever seen, Fleury saved the day.

“Save(S)”

In Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup final against the Red Wings, Fleury had the chance every young goalkeeper dreamed of. Not only to win the Stanley Cup, but also to do it with substantial walking (or saving).

The Penguins led 2-1, and with 6.5 seconds left, a standoff occurred on Fryry’s left. The puck was drawn back to Brian Rafalski, who was blocked, but the puck landed on Henrik Zetterberg’s blade, which was blocked by Fleury.

This saving is probably the least saved in Penguin history. This is shot through the screen on the ice, about 15 feet on the ice. Not only did the hockey bounce off Fleury, he had to fall onto the ice, flashing with five holes.

The rebound suddenly appeared to the right of Hall of Fame member Niklas Lidstrom, and with the last second ticking, he had a cage playing the puck to put the puck in. In that moment, I remembered how I witnessed agility in postal posts in the first game against the Kings in 2003. Everything is integrated. He skated faster on the ice than any goalkeeper, saved, and the Penguins won the Stanley Cup.

Fleury’s final quarter in Pittsburgh

Reality began to spread when Matt Murray led the Penguins to the 2016 Stanley Cup.

Fleury resigned from fate as a backup game for the 2017 playoffs until Murray was injured in the first game of the playoffs. Fleury stepped in and easily brought the Penguins into the first round against Columbus Blue Jackets.

That was in the second round, against the Capital, and he stole the performance again. As fate would have it, the series would boil down to Washington’s Game 7. Fleury stopped all 29 photos when he turned the capital out and shocked the Washington crowd again.

Although he eventually scored a healthy Murray in the Eastern Conference final against the Ottawa Senators, Fleury scored a 1-0 victory in Game 2 of the series. 1-0, just like his first shutdown in 2003.

There was a lot of things going on between his first closing with the Penguins and his last game: a lot of laughter, a lot of smiles, a lot of hard times and a lot of victory. This hasn’t been right since Fleury left the Penguin. In hindsight it was 20/20, and then general manager Jim Rutherford should trade Murray and keep Fleury. No matter what Fleury’s team plays, it’s never felt like he was no longer a Penguin. He happened to be wearing another uniform.

Players come and go, but few will have a lasting impact on the fan base like Ferry in Pittsburgh. Every time he returns to Pittsburgh to play, there is an ode to “Escape, Escape” when he makes a lot of saves. Even though he was wearing another sweater, to Pittsburgh, he still felt that his guy, Marc-Andre Fleury, was always a penguin.