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Fleury Celebrates 25th Birthday

Saturday, 11.28.2009 / 2:21 PM / Features
By Tom Mast
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Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury turned 25 years old Saturday. Among his birthday gifts were a Nintendo Wii, complete with a Super Mario Bros. game, and a handful of ice cubes down the back of his shirt courtesy of Matt Cooke.

Fleury took time after the team’s Saturday morning skate, while receiving his gift from Cooke, to look back at his years spent in Pittsburgh.

The 2003 No. 1 overall draft pick made his sensational NHL debut Oct. 10, 2003 against the Los Angeles Kings, stopping 46 of 48 shots, including a penalty shot by the Kings Esa Pirnes.

“It’s crazy. It feels like I just got here not too long ago,” Fleury said. “It’s been six years. Time just flies by.”

Captain Sidney Crosby also couldn’t believe how quickly the time has passed.

“We just talked about that this morning,” Crosby said. “I asked him how old he was and he said 25. Times flies but he is still pretty young. It definitely goes by quick.”

“I feel the same as yesterday, not much change,” Fleury laughed when asked how turning 25 felt.

The young goaltender has accomplished a lot in seven seasons, backstopping the Penguins through two runs to the Stanley Cup Final and hoisting the Cup after the Game 7 thriller last season against Detroit.

Fleury has accumulated 125 NHL regular-season wins, six more than the 119 wins than Martin Brodeur gathered with the New Jersey Devils before his 25th birthday. Patrick Roy won 133 games before turning 25 while playing for the Montreal Canadiens.

Brodeur and Roy are No’s. 1 and 2 when it comes to total regular-season wins (Brodeur, 571; Roy, 551), and Fleury is well on his way to joining his boyhood idols in the record books.

Legendary netminder Terry Sawchuk holds the record for wins by age 25, picking up 179 with the Detroit Red Wings before hitting the quarter-century mark.

Fleury has matured over the years, and now feels more in control of his game. His raw acrobatic talent and athleticism has been transformed into a solid goaltending style. Fleury’s quick development helped the team evolve out of the lean rebuilding years that were only a handful of seasons ago.

“I think mentally I’m more relaxed, more calm,” Fleury said. “I think before I might worry too much.

“I know there’s going to be tough games and there’s going to be losses. It’s ok. It’s such a long season. The next game you have to make sure that you’re ready and get back to winning again. I think time and experience has helped me.”





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STANDINGS

EASTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 WSH 59 41 12 6 234 161 88
2 NJD 58 36 20 2 153 134 74
3 BUF 58 32 18 8 160 146 72
4 PIT 59 35 22 2 187 171 72
5 OTT 60 34 22 4 167 167 72
6 TBL 58 26 21 11 150 167 63
7 MTL 60 28 26 6 154 162 62
8 PHI 57 29 25 3 167 154 61
9 BOS 58 25 22 11 140 148 61
10 NYR 59 26 26 7 152 163 59
11 ATL 57 25 24 8 172 183 58
12 FLA 59 24 26 9 153 171 57
13 NYI 59 24 27 8 149 183 56
14 CAR 59 22 30 7 159 189 51
15 TOR 60 19 30 11 162 204 49

STATS

2009-2010 REGULAR SEASON
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
S. Crosby 58 39 35 7 74
E. Malkin 52 20 41 -1 61
J. Staal 59 16 22 15 38
B. Guerin 58 17 19 -1 36
S. Gonchar 43 8 26 -3 34
A. Goligoski 47 6 20 5 26
P. Dupuis 58 13 12 5 25
M. Cooke 57 11 12 12 23
R. Fedotenko 57 8 14 -13 22
K. Letang 50 3 18 3 21
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
M. Fleury 28 16 2 .906 2.68
B. Johnson 7 5 0 .912 2.72