He took the crease eventually, facing shots from Crosby, Letang and forward Bryan Rust.

“That might be what I loved the most,” Fleury said, “just being on the ice and have a lot of shots, see the guys a bunch, be able to chirp a bit here and there. That’s a lot of fun for me.”

Crosby scored on his second attempt, with Fleury looking to the rafters, his customary wry smile visible through the bars of his mask. Crosby laughed in the right face-off circle, then had his next few shots turned away — one with Fleury windmilling in the crease.

“The one where I batted it out of the air and scored, that’s the one you’re talking about?” Crosby said, chuckling. “Yeah, it was a good initial save, for sure. Yeah.”

Every little thing Fleury did got a reaction — taking the crease and leaving it, making a save and letting in a goal.

It was a reception earned long ago. The No. 1 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft, Fleury won the Stanley Cup three times (2009, 2016, 2017) before being selected by the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

Mike Sullivan, now coach of the New York Rangers, was Fleury’s coach for the last two championships.

“He just represents everything that makes us proud to be associated with the game,” Sullivan said. “He’s a great person. He’s a fierce competitor. And he loves hockey. I don’t think you play as long as ‘Flower’ did and play in as many games as he has if you don’t love the game. His energy is so contagious.”

Fleury is 575-339-95 with two ties in 1,051 games, with the second-most wins and games played by a goalie in NHL history behind Martin Brodeur (691 wins, 1,266 games).

Fleury has the most wins (375) and games played (691) on Pittsburgh’s all-time list. His 2.58 goals-against average is the lowest in its history and his .912 save percentage is tied for second (minimum 100 games played) with Casey DeSmith, behind Matt Murray (.914).

Crosby, Malkin and Letang are the Penguins’ core three. It was once four. Fleury was the foundation.

“He was here before us,” Crosby said. “He had some, at least a year there, where it was a struggle. I remember, early on, he was getting 40, 50 shots, playing unbelievable. We couldn’t get wins for him. It was tough. He couldn’t get shutouts. It was the hardest thing. He’d have a shutout for, like, 57 minutes and then let one in, it was crazy.

“I don’t know how many shutouts he has, but he should have, like, 15 to 20 more. He just had those nights where he just took over.”