The Penguins were out-shot, 49-11, in that 3-0 loss, and as the Post-Gazette’s Dave Molinari wrote, the Kings “left the Penguins' zone only when the ice was being resurfaced.” A week later, Fleury out-dueled Dominik Hasek in his next start as the Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings to earn Olczyk his first win as coach. That October, he was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month.

LANGE: “He was the fastest goaltender I had ever seen. I used to compare him to a pinball machine, the way that he could use his pads and just go bang, bang, bang back and forth and stop the puck.”

BOURQUE: “He was all over the place. There were times he was trying to make the same save on a shot 15 different ways. It was like he was trying out for Cirque du Soleil. … It was entertaining, but it was almost exhausting to watch sometimes.”

Playing behind the leakiest team in hockey eventually took its toll on the young goalie’s stat line and his confidence. Then, in December, he left to play for Canada at the World Junior Championships.

In the gold-medal game, Canada led the U.S., 3-1, after two periods. But in the third, the U.S. scored three goals to win the gold. The winner came when Fleury attempted to shoot the puck out of the zone, but it hit teammate Braydon Coburn and skipped into the net with 5:12 left.

McMILLAN: “[Fleury winning gold] could have been a really uplifting moment in the middle of this challenging season and just a fluky play happens and he ends up putting the puck in his own net.”

FLEURY: “I don’t laugh about it now. Well, maybe sometimes. Good lesson. But it was a good time, a great tournament. I got to play with Sid for the first time. It was devastating to lose in the finals. I thought since I was coming from the NHL, I should do so well and help the team to win.”

Fleury returned to Pittsburgh and played in four more losses, allowing 20 total goals. The Penguins then sent him back to his junior team, Cape Breton in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

OLCZYK: “He was our best goalie by a long-shot. You knew the kid had the ‘it’ factor. I think the plan was to give him some experience, show our fans what we have coming down the pipe. At that time, too, you had bonuses and incentives that certainly played into the decision of how much he played.”

Fleury would have qualified for a $3 million bonus had he made at least 25 appearances of 20 minutes or more and met at least two other performance-based thresholds. Fleury finished his turbulent rookie season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That was because Cape Breton, a powerhouse when Fleury returned to juniors, ended up getting knocked off in the QMJHL quarterfinals.

PATRICK: “With the contract we had, we couldn’t keep him all year. We knew he could play right away. We couldn’t afford keeping him on the roster any longer than the number of games before that bonus kicked in. It was unfortunate at the time, but it turned out that he developed quite well.”

FLEURY: “Everything you go through in life helps you grow as a person and a player. That was a little bit of a crazy year. I had to learn things, sometimes the hard way. That helped me succeed and show character and keep working. I put my head down, worked hard and tried to get better. I think that’s something I’ve been able to do throughout my career. You know, because I’ve had some lows.”

BOURQUE: “With a lot of other guys, it would have been, ‘Yeah, that kid could have been good. It’s a shame his first year was so bad. He was never the same after that.’ No, he was able to persevere.”