Jim Rutherford said all along he didn't want to trade Marc-Andre Fleury, that he preferred the Penguins have two quality goaltenders as they push hard into a busy March toward the playoffs and a chance to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. I didn't see Rutherford after the 4-3, back-from-the-dead win Sunday night against the Buffalo Sabres so I can't say with any certainty that he was even more thrilled that he didn't include Fleury in a deal last week, but I'm pretty sure Mike Sullivan was fairly ecstatic about it. Fleury came off the bench to relieve Matt Murray after the first period and made 28 saves on 28 shots to give the team a shot to climb out of a deep, dark 3-0 hole.
"Marc did a terrific job," Sullivan said. "That's not an easy challenge for a goaltender, but I thought he was locked in. He made some big saves for us, especially in that third period."
This was a game in front of an adoring PPG Paints Arena crowd that many _ including Fleury _ probably didn't see coming. Fleury talked after beating Winnipeg Feb. 16 as if there was a good chance that was his final home game in a Penguins uniform. The team is committed to Murray as its starter. It likely will lose Fleury after the season, mostly because of the NHL expansion draft. It made sense to look into moving Fleury before the Wednesday trade deadline.
But it came and went.
"Nothing happened. That's fine," Fleury said. "I like to play, but I guess I couldn't imagine going somewhere else. It's my home. There's so much support here."
That was evident when Fleury was announced as the goaltender at the start of the second period. It was evident in the final minute of the game when he scrambled to make challenging saves on Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel with the Penguins short-handed because of a Justin Schultz delay-of-game penalty. And it was evident when he was named the No. 1 star and did a brief victory lap as the chant heard so often around the big building rained down on him.
"Fleur-y! Fleur-y! Fleur-y!"
"It was fun," Fleury said. "The team played a lot better in the second and third so that helped me out. It's the support from the fans. They're good to me. All my career, they've been very good to me. It's fun to play here and it's fun to win here."
Sullivan said he made the goaltending change not so much because Murray played poorly in the first period but rather to wake up the 18 skaters in front of him. "We were flat in that first period. We didn't like what we saw."
Fleury had time to warm up, stretching and taking a few shots from injured teammate Kris Letang in a back room adjacent to the Penguins room. "Just started moving around and getting the blood flowing a little bit ...
"I don't get too many of those games. It's not my favorite."
You wouldn't have known it by the way Fleury played. His best save came on an Evander Kane breakaway just a few seconds after Schultz had scored to make it 3-1 at 7:45 of the second period. Fleury kicked out his right leg at the last second to block Kane's shot. If Kane scores there, there probably would be no comeback. The game probably would be over.
"He's a player who has a very good shot," Fleury said. "I was thinking he was going to shoot. I just tried to be patient for as long as I could ...
"I think we all knew the first wasn't the way we wanted to play. I just wanted to try to keep us in the game. I was confident that we could come back."
The Penguins did just that, winning for the eighth time this season when trailing after two periods. Fleury didn't have to say he enjoyed every second of his 40 minutes on the ice. His smile gave him away. It was bigger and brighter than ever.
"Yeah, I am," he said when asked if he really is happy to still be with the Penguins. "Especially in games like this. I really enjoy games like this here. Good times."
Don't be surprised if more are ahead for Fleury. This was the third of 16 March games for the Penguins. Rutherford has said the team will be careful not to burn out Murray before the playoffs. Fleury said he welcomes the opportunity.
"I hope I can help the team. That's always nice. It's not about me. It's about the team."
That's usually true, but it wasn't in this game on this night. It was all about Fleury.
"He was phenomenal," Phil Kessel said.
The sellout crowd of 18,653 said the same thing in its own way.
"Fleur-y! Fleur-y! Fleur-y!"
