PITTSBURGH — Colby Armstrong thought this was it.
So did the rest of us.
When the Minnesota Wild lost in six games to the Vegas Golden Knights earlier this month, it seemingly closed the books on an incredible career for longtime Penguins fan favorite Marc-Andre Fleury.
Yeah, no.
In case you’ve missed it, there’s an incredible Pittsburgh sports story occurring in Stockholm, Sweden, for the IIHF World Championships. Sidney Crosby and Fleury are playing together for the first time since hoisting the Stanley Cup in Nashville on June 11, 2017.
“I actually texted Flower saying, ‘Hey, congrats on the career and everything,’” Armstrong told me over the phone on Saturday. “I guess I jumped the gun a bit.
“We get some more time in the sun with [Fleury].”
We could use that brightness around here, huh?
The Pirates awoke Sunday already 16 games under .500. They didn’t sink that low until June 11 in 2021 … when they lost 101.
Zooming out more, recently I’ve been thinking about those back-to-back Cup teams and how different this city felt.
Consider the summer of 2016:
— The Penguins were at the height of their Mike Sullivan, Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel, Fleury and Kris Letang powers. They were the team the rest of the NHL was trying to emulate.
— The Pirates had made the playoffs three consecutive years and had an opening day payroll of basically $100 million, a franchise record.
— The Steelers would catch fire that fall and into the winter, winning their final seven regular season games and reaching the AFC championship game.
— Penn State football won the Big Ten and reached the Rose Bowl.
— Pitt men’s hoops reached the NCAA tournament for the last time under Jamie Dixon, and Pitt football was routinely ranked.
Things are unfortunately different now.
But this week, Penguins fans can see a throwback to happier times, as Crosby and Fleury have a chance to do something incredible. Individually and for their country.
First, though, I can’t get over the happenstance, how the universe aligned to produce bonus hockey for two Penguins legends who were robbed by the 2017 NHL expansion draft.
“He’s supposed to be retired,” Armstrong said of Fleury. “Played his last game, got all the salutes. And here he is over in Sweden, representing his country. It’s awesome.
“They have a good enough team to have a good kick at it, as Canada usually does. What a magical way to really go out and represent your country again. We’ll see how it all shakes out.”
So far so good, anyway.
Team Canada on Saturday crushed Slovakia to move to 5-0 in the group stage. Crosby scored twice and amassed four points. As of Sunday morning, only four players had more than Crosby’s nine points. Overall, Canada had outscored its opponents, 28-2.
Another part of that has been the 40-year-old with 575 career wins and 1,051 games played, both second in NHL history. Fleury planned to ride off into the sunset … until he seemingly had an opportunity too enticing to pass up.
“After we lost [to Vegas], I thought, ‘I’m done,’ “ Fleury told reporters during the Wild’s locker-cleanout day. “But a couple days went by, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I think that would be pretty cool.’ So, just a little longer, right?”
And then there was Fleury cracking a joke. I think.
“I went home, and my kids were crazy,” Fleury said. “I was like, ‘Geez, I have to keep playing.’”
Who’s he kidding? Fleury is still a kid, and I have no doubt he’ll crush retirement. Just not yet.
In two games, Fleury has stopped 29 of 31 shots. The difficulty will soon increase, too, as Canada has Finland and Sweden on consecutive days that started Monday before tournament play begins on Thursday.
The IIHF World Championship final will be played on Sunday, May 25.
“I’m in Montreal right now, and the media is all over it, probably the same as in Pittsburgh,” Pascal Dupuis told me. “I see them at practice challenging each other with big smiles on their faces, like they used to do pretty much every day in Pittsburgh.
“It’s awesome to watch from afar. Knowing them, they’re having a blast right now.”
We haven’t been all over it, unfortunately.
Maybe that’s the media’s fault, I don’t know. We’ve been too wrapped up in the Steelers schedule, Aaron Rodgers, the Pirates struggling, George Pickens getting traded and the firings of Mike Sullivan and Derek Shelton.
The good news: There’s still time to enjoy one last run, an incredible storyline that will come to fruition with a Team Canada victory.
“What if Flower starts that last game if they get to the final?” Armstrong wondered aloud. “Man, it’s just cool to see those guys together all these years later.”
What’s at stake for both is also incredible.
In hockey, there’s what is known as the Triple Gold Club — Olympic gold, the Stanley Cup and winning at the World Championships.
Only 30 players have done it. That list includes 11 Canadians and two current/former Penguins: Crosby and Jaromir Jagr.
Sure, it’s arbitrary and sounds like it’s associated with a car rental company. It also doesn’t include Mario Lemieux or Wayne Gretzky (among others). But Fleury could become the first Triple Gold goaltender.
Crosby, meanwhile, could join Peter Forsberg, Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov in the Double Triple Gold Club.
More than anything, though, it’s a reunion between two friends who’ve been extremely close.
The prankster goalie who could poke the routine-oriented bear. The player who’s always smiling able to lighten the one obsessed with winning, a perfect yin-and-yang.
Crosby’s quotes on Fleury joining Team Canada have been fairly standard — “It’s fun to be here with him” was one — so I contacted Armstrong to get a little more interesting intel on how Crosby might be processing this opportunity.
“I think he’s having the time of his life, honestly,” Armstrong said. “He’s over there, and maybe people think, ‘This guy is an animal. He’s crazy. What’s he doing at this age going over there?’
“It’s an opportunity for him to play with a bunch of his buddies and play hockey. He’s absolutely winning at life and hockey.”
I also loved how Armstrong worked in a good-natured jab at Penguins president of hockey operations Kyle Dubas, who’s working as Team Canada’s GM for the World Championships.
“I have to imagine it’s pretty easy for Dubas,” Armstrong said, clearly joking. “Just have Sid and all of his buddies come in. ‘Hey, Sid. Call this guy.’ It’s worked out pretty well.”
With the Penguins so far away, it might be a way for Crosby to scratch his competitive itch. He also couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to run it back with Fleury, a player who could needle Sid like few others.
“Billy Guerin could do it,” Dupuis said. “Chris Kunitz, too. I could do it. Max Talbot. Some guys could do it when we were all together, but Flower took it to another level.”
We’re all better for having watched that. But much like Fleury, we’re not done yet.
