The Top-5 Players For Pittsburgh During October

Number Two: Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury

Nov 1, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) reacts to the crowd after being named a star of the game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Scarred with two consecutive playoff debacles, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury avoided reminiscing the horrendous outings and had himself a fantastic October.

Currently leading the league in wins (10), Fleury delivered nine of them during October and only lost two. Owning a 1.83 goals-against-average and a .929 save percentage, number-29 has thus far shown the organization he can still hack it in net.

Becoming the winningest goaltender in Penguins’ history on Oct. 3 against the New Jersey Devils, Fleury became the 47th netminder ever to reach 250 victories, and he also recorded his 24th career shutout in that game as well.

Awarded with the NHL ‘Third Star’ for the opening week, Fleury started the season winning seven consecutive games, and five of those victories came at home — which was a career-high for him to start the year.

Allowing a career-low 14 goals through the first eight contests, the 28-year-old former Stanley Cup champion looks as though he’s been rejuvenated under the tutelage of new goaltender coach Mike Bales — who helped guide the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltenders’ to lead the American Hockey League (AHL) in goals-against-average last season.

Ranking as one of the top goaltenders in the league to this point, if the season were to end today — which would be rather premature — only San Jose Sharks’ goaltender Antti Niemi would compete with him for the Vezina trophy (best goaltender).

We’ll see if he can keep it up for this month (November), considering he’ll be receiving a heavy workload while backup goaltender Tomas Vokoun is sidelined.