Sidney Crosby Opens Up on Facing Longtime Friend and Penguins Legend Marc-Andre Fleury in Final Game
Photo credit: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is opening up before facing his longtime former teammate and fellow Stanley Cup champion Marc-Andre Fleury for the last time.
They grew up together as young teammates in the National Hockey League and even won 3 Stanley Cups together, and today will face one another as opponents for the final time.
This is the final year in the NHL for goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who spent the first several years of his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Sidney Crosby before he was exposed in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and snagged by the Vegas Golden Knights.
Now with the Minnesota Wild, Fleury is set to face Crosby one last time before hanging up the pads this afternoon at Xcel Energy Center.
It's going to be a bittersweet moment for Crosby, who still regards Fleury as a great friend.
It's one of those things, you reflect a little bit but when you get out there you try and compete and have fun with it. He's had an amazing career, and it was fun having the opportunity to play with him for a big chunk of it. Yeah, just gonna try and enjoy that competition and that aspect of it.
For Crosby, it seems like just yesterday that he and Fleury were young teammates on a Penguins squad that was coming out of a rebuilding process and soon was on the rise.
Just kind of how fast time goes, and you feel like yesterday you were coming into the League and I was so happy to be joining a young group of guys, including Flower, that had high expectations. We've all kind of grown up together in the League, and I think you reflect on that. You saw the great moments he was a part of, and yeah, all the little things - not even hockey, sometimes. Whether it's the road trips or the off-ice stuff, that's kind of the stuff that sticks with you too.
Fleury was the 1st overall pick by the Penguins in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, and Crosby was the 1st overall pick in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Together, they won the Stanley Cup in a 7-game upset over the Detroit Red Wings in 2009, and later won back to back Cups in 2016 and 2017.
While Crosby has remained in Pittsburgh, Fleury has since played for the Golden Knights, the Chicago Blackhawks and is currently with the Wild.
He's 12-7-1 with a 2.76 GAA and a .904 SV% with a single shutout in what will be his curtain call in the NHL.
With 573 career victories, he's 2nd overall on the NHL's all-time win list for a goaltender behind only Martin Brodeur.
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