Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury blooms where he is planted in Game 6 win

FROM PITTSBURGH —  Marc-Andre Fleury’s grin was visible through the slats of his mask, a smile as wide as the net he protected so staunchly when circumstances demanded he be as close to perfect as a goaltender can be.

Fleury’s resilience and skill in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 2-1 victory Tuesday at Mellon Arena are the reasons the Stanley Cup was returned to its packing case after it was polished instead of going home with the Red Wings.

Three days after allowing five goals in 21 shots in a startlingly bad 5-0 loss whose end he watched from the bench, Fleury was a commanding presence for a team that needed every bit of assurance it could find.

It’s because of him, even more than the rare secondary scoring the Penguins got from Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy in the second period and the gritty shot-blocking game of defenseman Rob Scuderi, that the NHL season has come down to one game, Friday at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.

A year ago, the Penguins watched the Red Wings claim the Cup at Mellon Arena in Game 6. Fleury’s nerveless, 25-save effort Tuesday ensured that history would not repeat itself.

The man the Penguins have nicknamed “Flower” picked the right moment to blossom.

“It’s a great feeling that we won. Last year was tough to lose and to see the other team have the Cup,” Fleury said.

“Now that we’re still alive we have a chance at it in Game 7. It’s awesome.”

That also describes Fleury’s work in the third period, when the Red Wings scored their lone goal and threatened several times to pull even.

Kris Draper beat him at 8:01, lifting the rebound of a shot by Jonathan Ericsson, but the Red Wings would get no more despite a 14-7 edge in shots in the period.

In his most memorable stop, Fleury thrust out his glove to blunt a breakaway by Dan Cleary with 1:41 left, calmly pushing himself across the crease to reach the right post and force Cleary wide.

“Myself, like a lot of guys, we expected Flower to stop it the way he was playing tonight,” Sidney Crosby said. “He saved us many times but I had all the confidence in the world that he was going to make that stop.”

So did his coach, Dan Bylsma, who played in a Game 7 of the Finals with the Ducks in 2003 and on Friday will coach a Game 7 in the Finals.

“He’s a guy who has come up big in a lot of big games,” Bylsma said, “and there were a handful of times he came up big in this game.”

During the frantic final seconds, after the Red Wings had pulled goalie Chris Osgood in favor of an extra skater,

Fleury kicked out his right leg to stop a backhander by Johan Franzen and maintained his poise and positioning when all around him were losing their balance and their breath.

What mattered is that he never lost his belief in himself despite that Game 5 debacle in Detroit, so his teammates never wavered in their belief in him.

“When he’s on his game you can tell from the first stops he makes and tonight he was on,” Maxime Talbot said.

“He wanted to come back. He’s a proud guy and he was loose this morning and he had the performance we needed to have.”

Fleury had said several times in the days between Games 5 and 6 that he had put that bad loss well behind him, but those were just words until he backed them up with deeds.

The extra day between games proved a blessing for him, not a poisonous period to brood on what had gone wrong. That’s a sign of maturity that the young Penguins, who are still developing the substance to support their undeniable style, can only welcome.

“I think I’ve learned throughout my years that it doesn’t matter how many goals you give up in a game. I think it’s a matter if you lose, you lose,” Fleury said. “So it doesn’t matter if I give one or five.

“So I try to forget about it, put it in the back, and next day come to the rink with a smile on and try to be positive and confident for tonight’s game.”

Now, all he has to do is duplicate this level of performance on Friday at Joe Louis Arena, where the Red Wings are 11-1 in the playoffs and won their previous three home games in the Finals.

Gulp.

But even that daunting prospect couldn’t dim Fleury’s incandescent smile Tuesday.

This is the game every hockey player plays in his driveway or a neighborhood pond and now he’s going to play it for real. The Cup will be in the house and the Red Wings will try to keep it at home.

Fleury is ready for the biggest challenge of a mercurial career.

“It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “Since I’m young I’ve been dreaming about making a save on a breakaway for the Cup. So to have a chance like this to get that thing, it’s awesome.”

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helene.elliott@latimes.com