PITTSBURGH — To NHL scoring champion Sidney Crosby, it's no coincidence the Pittsburgh Penguins became very good in the same season that goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury did.

Asked how the Penguins made such a dramatic improvement in only a year's time — from 22 victories a season ago to 47 this season — the first name Crosby mentioned was Fleury's.

Crosby could have pointed to rookie Evgeni Malkin and his 85 points. Or Jordan Staal's 29 goals and the 18-year-old rookie's strong play on the penalty-killing unit. Or Sergei Gonchar and his 67-point season, the second-best among NHL defensemen.

Instead, Crosby and the Penguins understand that how well the 22-year-old Fleury plays in their first-round series against Ottawa may determine if they reach the second round. The series begins tonight in Ottawa.

"Starting in goal, I think you have to have a great goalie in order to be successful, and Marc has really done a good job," Crosby said.

Fleury was the first in the Penguins' series of No. 1 and No. 2 draft picks who have developed into stars in a relatively short time — Crosby, Malkin and Staal would follow. Fleury became their starting goalie at age 18 and, understandably, struggled on bad teams while going 4-14-2 in 2003-04 and 13-27-6 last season.

This season, Fleury has been in net for 40 of the Penguins' 47 wins, tying him for third in NHL goalie victories behind New Jersey's Martin Brodeur (48) and Vancouver's Roberto Luongo (47). Buffalo's Ryan Miller and Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff also won 40.

"He's playing really well lately. That's a great sign for him, it's a great sign for our hockey team," coach Michel Therrien said. "You want to make sure your goalie the last few games, the way he's playing, you want to try to bring that to the playoffs. Fleury is probably at his best right now, so that's why we're really optimistic about the way he's going to perform."

Fleury is 9-2-1 in his last dozen starts, allowing two goals or fewer six times. His strong play has been helped by the Penguins' growing familiarity and success with the defensive system installed by Therrien when he took over in December 2005. The Penguins' 2.93 goals-against average is down nearly a goal per game from their 3.78 of last season.