ATLANTA -- Michel Therrien considered the question and agreed that, yes, it was possible that Marc-Andre Fleury might need a little time to regain the edge on his game completely.

And sure, Therrien said, he was prepared to give Fleury some.

About 6 1/2 hours. Which just happened to be how much remained before the start of the Penguins' game against Atlanta at Philips Arena last night.

And which, it turned out, was as much as Fleury needed, as he turned aside 28 of 31 shots during the Penguins' 6-3 victory.

"I thought he was phenomenal," Therrien said.

That might be overstating it a bit -- Evgeni Malkin's performance likely eclipsed Fleury's, as he had two goals and two assists to push his league-leading points total to 53 -- but getting quality work from Fleury in his first start since Nov. 15 had to be the most encouraging thing for the Penguins about this victory.

"He looked good," defenseman Rob Scuderi said.

"We gave up a couple of bad chances, and he was there for us."

That was particularly true during the third period, when the Penguins were pretty lackluster -- Atlanta's 12-5 edge in shots was a fair reflection of the play -- but the Thrashers scored just once, and only because of a flagrant giveaway by Miroslav Satan to ex-Penguin Colby Armstrong.

"Sometimes, when you have a lead like that, you start to take things for granted," Scuderi said.

"We're fortunate they didn't climb any more back into the game. We made it closer than we wanted."

Of course, the Penguins' third-period problems might have indirectly made it possible for Sidney Crosby to record one of his most impressive assists in the NHL.

Not because his pass to Malkin to set up an open-net goal with 26.2 seconds left was anything special, but because Crosby -- who doesn't have a goal in the past eight games -- passed up a fairly high-percentage shot at an open net to set up a teammate who had an even better opportunity.

It was a completely selfless act that seemed to make an impression on everyone. Except Crosby, who figured he just did what the situation called for.

"I just saw him open, and the puck was rolling a bit," Crosby said. "The guy was forcing me a lot -- the guy totally left him open.

"As nice as goals are, and as nice as empty nets are, you just have to trust your instincts. I saw him open, and so I made the play."

The one truly sour twist to the Penguins' second victory in their past six games was that winger Pascal Dupuis left the game with an unspecified injury.

An individual familiar with his injury characterized Dupuis' condition as "day-to-day." His availability for the Penguins' game against Toronto tomorrow at 7:08 p.m. at Mellon Arena is not known.

Fleury's Atlanta counterpart, Ondrej Pavelec, didn't fare nearly as well as Fleury did. He allowed five goals on 13 shots before being replaced by Johan Hedberg at 8:04 of the second period.

For Hedberg, an ex-Penguin, it was his second appearance against his old team since he left it as a free agent in 2003.

He turned aside all six shots they threw at him.

Fleury made his first noteworthy save at 5:09 of the opening period, when he denied Armstrong from near the left hash mark.

"Early in the game, it's good to make some saves and get into it," Fleury said.

Twenty-three seconds later, Matt Cooke scored to put the Penguins in front to stay.

Malkin added a goal at 9:40 and, even though Marty Reasoner got one for Atlanta at 19:21 -- "We gave them life by giving them their first goal," Therrien said -- the Penguins reclaimed control on power-play goals by Jordan Staal (3:30) and Satan (5:54) early in the second.

One of Fleury's best stops came in the middle of the period, when he rejected an Eric Perrin backhander on a rebound after Scuderi had inadvertently put the puck on goal while breaking up a two-on-one.

"It was a close one," Scuderi said.

"You just try to have your stick in the [passing] lane. He made a pretty hard pass, and I almost put it in my own net.

"I guess [Fleury's] leg is feeling all right, because most of us would have ripped a groin on that one."

Fleury's groin survived. So did his team. Bodes well for all concerned.

"He looked like himself out there," Scuderi said. "It was nice to see that, in the very first game."