NHL Penguins' rookies showing promise

The first-year players already are having a positive impact on the team.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- With five Calder Trophy-eligible players on the active roster, the Pittsburgh Penguins organization knew that its rookies would have to grow up fast for the team to be competitive this season.
That the rookies would make an impact so quickly has surprised everyone -- except them.
"The veteran guys we have are so important to our younger guys to make them understand that half isn't good enough and three-quarters isn't good enough," Penguins head coach Eddie Olczyk said. "It's got to be the full game, it's got to be the full shift with accountability and peer pressure, something we've talked about and preached."
So far, the results are promising.
Fleury doing well
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has been everything a first-overall draft pick should be. He has a very respectable 1.96 goals-against average, ranks third in the National Hockey League with a .943 save percentage and notched his first career shutout Thursday in a 1-0 win in Chicago. Fleury will start his third straight game today when the Boston Bruins visit Mellon Arena at 1 p.m.
His success has left another rookie, Sebastien Caron, on the bench. In three starts Caron sports a 4.54 goals-against average, bloated by a 7-2 loss Oct. 25 to the New York Islanders.
While Fleury has lived up to expectations, left wing Ryan Malone has exceeded them. Malone scored his first NHL goal Wednesday in Pittsburgh's 4-4 tie with the Islanders and is sixth among rookies with three assists.
"From training camp until now I think I've learned a lot from being in the exhibition games until now and I'm still learning," Penguins left wing Ryan Malone said. "I definitely feel more confident out there and I feel I can try to help out the team by chipping in some more goals and create chances for some of the other guys."
Complemented each other
Malone has played most of the season on a line with center Rico Fata and veteran right wing Aleksey Morozov, and the three have complemented each other well.
Another rookie who has begun to blossom is Konstantin Koltsov, the team's first-round draft pick in 1999. Koltsov notched three assists in the tie with the Islanders and scored his first career goal in Thursday night's 1-0 win in Chicago. Koltsov is second among NHL rookies with six points.
"I think the younger guys, we take it upon ourselves to put more pressure on us because you want to be the best hockey player you can be," Malone said. "For me, I'm putting pressure on myself to score goals, but they're really not looking for that so that's a bonus."
Perhaps the biggest surprise has been the play of defenseman Brooks Orpik, who has turned in some solid play in his own zone while relying heavily on the guidance of his partner, Marc Bergevin. The 20-year veteran sees a lot of untapped potential in Orpik, the Penguins' first-round pick out of Boston College in 2000, who spent most of last season in the minors at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
It's a big challenge
"It's tough when you come up to the NHL as a rookie, because it's a tough step from the American Hockey League because it's a different game," Bergevin said. "With time, he's adjusting, he's got more confidence and he'll be a big part of this team for years to come."
Still, there are 73 more games to play this season to truly determine where these players will fit in, if they find a niche at all.
"It's only nine games, so obviously it's still early," Bergevin said. "But they're on the right path."