It turns out Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was not held out of starting against Buffalo Tuesday night because of too much exertion while he was in Vancouver for the Olympics.

Conversely, Fleury needed a couple of practices to regain his bearings after getting most of his workouts off the ice while with Team Canada. As the third-stringer behind older goalies Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur, Fleury did not play in any games, dressed as a backup for just one, and was not very active in practices.

"The two guys got most of the shots. I just kind of stood there. I didn't get to do a whole lot," Fleury said after the Penguins practiced Wednesday at Southpointe before flying to New York for a game tonight against the Rangers.

Because of the regimented nature of the Olympic schedule, there was not time for him to stick around at the end of practice those two weeks to face shots from any lingering skaters.

"We knew that he was going to have to get back in the net and get some shots before he played," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.

Not that Fleury -- who came back with a gold medal -- was complaining about his first trip to the Olympics.

"It was a great experience," Fleury said. "I got a chance to be with Luongo and Brodeur a lot. It was neat to be able to watch them on the ice, off the ice, see the way they carry themselves. They're pretty relaxed, confident, easygoing even though they're working hard in practice."

Fleury had been expected to take the ice with his Penguins teammates for the first time since the Olympics at the morning skate Tuesday, but several players got stuck in heavy traffic, and he was the only one who missed the entire workout.

"I think I'm going to hear about that for a while," Fleury said, with a big grin.

Tonight, he is expected to play for the first time since Feb. 14, a 4-3, shootout loss to Nashville. He is 29-16-4 with a 2.65 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

"It's never easy to come back when you don't play for a while, don't see any game action," Fleury said. "But I guess I know to keep it simple. A couple of practices and a couple of games, I'll be all right."

Fleury and defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who played for Russia in Vancouver, practiced, but the Penguins' other Olympians were given the day off.

They are center Sidney Crosby, defenseman Brooks Orpik and center Evgeni Malkin.

"I don't quite think they've been able to get back on the time schedule, even playing [Tuesday] night, so [this was] a day for them to catch some rest that a lot of us got in the break," Bylsma said.

The Rangers expect to have defenseman Michael Del Zotto back tonight, but leading scorer Marian Gaborik's status is unclear. Del Zotto and Gaborik sat out the Rangers' 4-1 win Tuesday night at Ottawa.

Del Zotto was working himself back into shape after recovering from a 50-stitch gash in his left side when he was cut by Malkin's skate during a 3-2 Rangers shootout win Feb. 12 at Mellon Arena. Gaborik tried to come back in that game after getting a bad gash on his right leg from Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist in a practice but had to leave early. He missed the game Tuesday and did not practice Wednesday.

Although Versus will carry the game tonight nationally, it has depleted its exclusive game rights, so the game will be shown locally on FSN Pittsburgh. ... Defenseman Martin Skoula, who was sent to Toronto Tuesday night as part of the trade that brought Alexei Ponikarovsky to the Penguins, was traded again Wednesday, to New Jersey. ... New Jersey's Patrik Elias told the Newark Star-Ledger that former Penguins star winger Jaromir Jagr could end up back in the NHL next season. Elias and Jagr played for the Czech Republic at the Olympics.

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