The Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury is arguably one of the best goaltenders in the league right now.

He is coming off a Stanley Cup win, leads the NHL with eight wins and, among goalies with more than three appearances, ranks fourth in goals-against average with 1.96 and in save percentage at .926.

While there is something to be said for sticking with a hot goaltender, Fleury was not complaining that the Penguins opted to give Brent Johnson his second start last night against Florida at Mellon Arena.

After all, there is a difference between wanting steady work and trying to be a latter-day Eddie Johnston, the longtime Penguins management staffer who was the last NHL goaltender to play every minute of every game for his team -- the 1963-64 Bruins.

"I always like to play, but 'Johnny' has been working hard, and it will be fun to watch him," Fleury said after the morning skate yesterday.

Fleury is expected to be back in the net tonight when the Penguins play New Jersey at Mellon Arena. That will pit him against one of his longtime idols, Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur.

Brodeur, with 102 career shutouts, is one away from tying Terry Sawchuk for the all-time record.

Fleury was reluctant to talk about his numbers --"Just as a team, it's been going well," he said -- but acknowledged he is part of an advantageous equation when he is allowing fewer than two goals a game and the Penguins are averaging 4.1 goals in the games in which he has started.

"We've played some close games, but we've had some games where the guys score four or five goals, and, if I can make some key saves here and there, I know that we can keep things going," he said.

"I know some nights they're going to be 5-4 games or 6-5. But that's the thing with this team -- whatever happens, we're always in it."

It was a day in August 2005 that Sidney Crosby flew to Pittsburgh for the first time, descended an escalator at the airport toward a throng of reporters and got his first look at the city.

He can hardly believe he has played 300 NHL games since then.

"It has gone by fast. Really fast," said Crosby, the first overall pick of the 2005 draft who, in his first 299 games going into last night, had 136 goals, 405 points. Not to mention a league scoring title, MVP award and his name on the Stanley Cup.

"It seems like yesterday I was coming here for the first time. It's really kind of gone by quickly, but 300's a good number, and I hope for a lot more."

Don't count Florida coach Peter DeBoer among those feeling any sympathy for the Penguins, who began an expected stretch of four to six weeks last night without defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who has a broken wrist.

"Do they still have [Evgeni] Malkin and Crosby and [Jordan] Staal and all those other guys?" DeBoer asked. "This is a deep, deep team. They are one of the teams in the league that can afford to lose a guy or two like that and still not miss a beat."

The Penguins dressed winger Chris Bourque for just the third time this season and scratched winger Eric Godard. ... Florida had no scratches. ... The Devils were well represented at the game, with at least four members of management in attendance.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.