Nothing much is easy on the way to the top league in any sport.

Some people make sure of it.

Consider the weekend Ben Lovejoy had.

Lovejoy was called up Sunday from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by the Penguins when it was determined an apparent right shoulder injury to defenseman Hal Gill would keep him out at least for last night. Getting the news of his promotion was a growing pain of sorts for Lovejoy.

"We had a game Saturday night, and we usually don't have a pregame skate on Sunday morning, so most guys don't usually go in," he said yesterday, hours before he made his NHL debut against Buffalo at Mellon Arena.

"Coach [Dan] Bylsma asked me if I would come to watch video. I was pretty upset because he wanted to do it at 9 in the morning. He called me in. We did 10 minutes of video and then he told me [about the promotion]. It was pretty exciting."

The former Dartmouth player was reunited with Alex Goligoski, his defense partner in Wilkes-Barre much of last season as well as his roommate.

Lovejoy endured less than luxurious living arrangements as the fourth player who moved into a house owned by Ryan Lannon and also occupied by Goligoski and Tim Wallace.

"It could have been nicer. I lived in the basement, which was sort of furnished and the ceiling was about 5 feet 11, so I had to walk around like this," the 6-foot-2, 215-pound defenseman said while tilting his head yesterday.

"It was a good experience for my first year of pro, but I'm happy to be out of [that house]."

With Lovejoy playing alongside Goligoski, Mark Eaton, a healthy scratch for eight games this season, was promoted to a shutdown pairing with Rob Scuderi.

"He's got the experience to play against top-two-line players," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said of Eaton.

No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury got a welcome from his teammates during the stretch early in the morning skate. It was the first time he practiced with the Penguins since he got what is believed to be a groin injury Nov. 15. He had been skating on his own in recent days.

Fleury wouldn't predict a timetable for his return but indicated it is now more about conditioning than recovering.

"It's just getting the timing back, getting in game shape," he said. "It's been doing well the past couple days. But with that injury, if I do it again, I'm out for a long time, so we have to be cautious.

"At the same time I'm anxious to get back in there."

Center Mike Zigomanis missed his third game in a row because of an unspecified injury, although Therrien said the faceoff whiz is "getting closer" to returning. ... Center Sidney Crosby has passed three Montreal players and through yesterday morning was the leading vote-getter among Eastern Conference forwards for the All-Star Game starting lineup with 551,401 votes. Teammate Evgeni Malkin was fifth among conference forwards with 482,557. Malkin and Crosby entered last night's games first and second in NHL scoring. ... The Penguins had no healthy scratches. The Sabres scratched defenseman Nathan Paetsch and winger Andrew Peters.