Sunday, September 21, 2003

By Dave Molinari, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

There's every reason to believe that, someday, Marc-Andre Fleury will be challenging for Vezina trophies and starting berths in All-Star games, perhaps even for Stanley Cups.

	Penguin goalie Marc-Andre Fleury makes one of his 22 saves during first period pre-season action against the New York Islanders at Mellon Arena. (John Heller, Post-Gazette) Click photo for larger image. Related stories Penguins Notebook: Lemieux might play in a preseason game NHL Notebook: DiPietro to Penguins / Be patient with Fleury

He may be regarded as one of hockey's elite goaltenders someday.

And long before that time may arrive, all memories of his first professional game, a 1-0 loss to the New York Islanders at Mellon Arena last night, will have faded.

He will forget how he turned aside 22 of 23 New York shots. How he was named the game's No. 1 star. And how relieved he was that he didn't finish the game with a grotesquely swollen goals-against average.

"I think I'm pretty happy that I didn't get lit up too much," Fleury said.

There never was much danger of that. Fact is, Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk said Fleury "played extremely well," praising the way he saw and handled the puck.

But, in a game when Fleury's performance was fine, it would have had to be flawless to match that of New York goalie Garth Snow, who turned aside all 23 pucks the Penguins threw at him.

The Penguins are shooting 1 for 43 from the field during their first two pre-season games. Both, not surprisingly, have been losses.

And while front-line forwards such as Mario Lemieux, Martin Straka and Aleksey Morozov did not play in either game, the Penguins don't want to count on a handful of forwards to generate the bulk of their offense. Of course, to this point, there's no evidence that anyone else can help to do it.

"It is a concern," Olczyk said. "We're looking for somebody to step up."

Although Fleury won't do much for the Penguins' offense, his gift for stopping pucks means that trying to sign him is high on the Penguins' to-do list.

General manager Craig Patrick said that he believes the deadline for striking a deal is Oct. 6, and there's no guarantee a contract can be structured in a way that will satisfy both parties by then. Patrick said that, while he has spoken to Fleury's agents, there have been no formal negotiations.

Fleury faced his first shot as a professional at 1:41 of the opening period. After a giveaway by the Penguins just inside their blue line, the puck ended up on the stick of New York right winger Martin Chabada, whose shot from the top of the left circle was rejected by Fleury.

Breakdowns such as the one that led to that shot aren't unusual for teams rebuilding with young players, and concerns about how playing behind a leaky defense would affect Fleury is one of the most compelling arguments for having him spend another season in junior hockey.

Fleury, though, rejects such thinking, insisting that his confidence would not be compromised by goals that were not his fault.

"I don't think I'd worry about it," he said.

"I'd just worry about my own [performance], if I played good that game, or if I [stunk]."

He went on to note that playing behind a just such a team with Cape Breton in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League left no significant dents in his psyche.

That, if anything, his game benefited from playing behind a team that gave him spotty defensive support.

"I had lots of shots some nights," he said. "Some nights it wasn't easy to win, but you can grow up from those experiences."

"I faced more shots, and maybe that helped me to improve. You have to get the positive out of that."

It's tough to figure what positives could be extracted from, say, a 7-1 loss, and it's hardly out of the question that the Penguins will endure a few of those this winter.

Nonetheless, no less an authority than Lemieux -- who had a little first-hand knowledge about what it's like to join a rebuilding team as a teenager -- said he doesn't worry that Fleury might forever carry mental scars if he spends the coming winter in the NHL.

"I don't think so," Lemieux said. "He's got too much talent. His mind is a big part of his game, from what I've seen the last couple of weeks and from talking to him. He's very confident in himself."

Olczyk, however, cautioned that while the Penguins have no concerns about Fleury's mental durability, they should not make a point of trying to test it.

"You don't want to [make him face] 45 or 50 shots, like in juniors," Olczyk said. "He's going to get good, quality shots against him, but you want to limit those."

The Penguins did a fairly good job of that last night, but couldn't prevent Jeff Hamilton from getting off the shot that produced the only goal of the game at 18:49 of the second period.

Penguins defenseman David Koci was serving an interference minor when Hamilton threw a wrist shot past Fleury's blocker from above the left dot.

"I just got beat," Fleury said. "I wish I could have stopped it."

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

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