Frederick Gaudreau and Brock Faber arrived at Xcel Energy Center in floral ties, while Filip Gustavsson wore a flower crown.
Wild continue strong play after break with 3-2 victory over Penguins in Marc-Andre Fleury’s return
On a night he was honored for career milestones, Marc-Andre Fleury returned to the starting spot after a long layoff and turned in a brilliant 34-save performance.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 10, 2024 at 5:48AM
Coaches donned boutonnieres behind the bench.
After everyone on the Wild wore jerseys crested with his name and number during warmups, Marc-Andre Fleury and his teammates returned to the ice on Friday night for a pregame ceremony that spotlighted Fleury’s 20-season career, his three Stanley Cups and his family.
“I’m proud of you, Daddy,” Fleury’s son James said in a video message. “You’re the best.”
The Wild pulled out all the stops to honor the future Hall-of-Famer for playing 1,000 games and becoming the second-winningest goaltender of all-time, including a 3-2 victory over the Penguins that capped off the celebration.
“We can’t lose a night like this,” Kirill Kaprizov said.
Fleury’s 34 saves were an appropriate encore to the accolades, especially the 10 in a row he rattled off after Kaprizov split a 2-2 tie with 10 minutes, 26 seconds to go in the third period.
This was Fleury’s 553rd victory and his first since he posted No. 552 on Jan. 15 to move past Patrick Roy for the second place in NHL history.
His last victory before that was Jan. 6 when he became only the fourth goalie to log 1,000 games, and both milestones were recognized before puck drop.
Standing alongside his wife Veronique, mom France and sister Marylene as well as James and his daughters Estelle and Scarlett, Fleury received an engraved silver stick and a custom mask featuring the Penguins, Golden Knights, Blackhawks and Wild — the four teams the 39-year-old has represented since getting drafted first overall in 2003 by Pittsburgh.
“I feel like I’ve gotten softer over the years,” said Fleury, who was playing for the first time since passing the NHL’s concussion protocol after getting hit behind the net Jan. 19 at Florida. “Seeing my kids on the ice and on the Jumbotron talking, old teammates, it gets me.”
Aside from messages from his kids, the video also flashed back to some of Fleury’s best saves.
“I’d be balling my eyes out,” Zach Bogosian said. “I shed a tear tonight just watching the video. I think a lot of people see 7 o’clock, bright lights. Careers kind of come and go but when you know what’s going on behind the scenes and how much hard work and sacrifice you put into your career, especially how much he has his entire career, the passion he has for the game still, it’s special.”
All three of Fleury’s championships came with the Penguins, who gifted Fleury a painting commemorating his time with the franchise.
That his former longtime teammates Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin were on hand for the festivities was fitting.
Like the Wild, the Penguins are chasing a playoff spot, and the battle that kicked off after Fleury’s children announced the starting lineup to the Wild and delivered the “Let’s Play Hockey” call was close.
“Hopefully they can remember me playing hockey and people cheering for me, for my team, for our name,” said Fleury, who is waiting until after the season to decide if he’ll retire. “It means a lot. Soon I’ll be on the couch not doing much, right? So hopefully they can remember this time.”
Matt Boldy capitalized on the power play 12:57 into the first period, wiring in a shot from the middle of the slot. Brock Faber’s assist on the goal established a franchise record for the most assists by a rookie (27) and most points by a rookie defenseman (31) in a season.
Twice later in the period play was interrupted when the horn sounded, a malfunction Fleury said wasn’t one of his signature pranks.
“I don’t have that pull around the rink,” he said.
Just 2:54 into the second period, Pittsburgh answered back when Reilly Smith — who played with Fleury for Vegas — one-timed in a slick Malkin pass.
The Wild regained the lead at 6:12 on a sharp sequence from Jonas Brodin, who hauled the puck from the corner to the front of the net where he spun into a shot that eluded Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic (27 saves). At one point, Nedeljkovic thanked the post à la Fleury.
Pittsburgh had another response, this time a power play goal from Crosby 1:01 into the third period; the Penguins and Wild both went 1-for-6 on the power play. The Wild also finished without Marcus Foligno, who left after getting tripped in the second period. Coach John Hynes didn’t have an update postgame.
To put a bow on the evening, the Wild needed to score again and Kaprizov finally did when he buried a rebound from a Zach Bogosian point shot; Kaprizov is the first Wild player to record four straight 20-goal seasons.
His goal officially counted after a lengthy video review to check for a missed stoppage, an unsuccessful challenge by Pittsburgh since the NHL ruled there wasn’t conclusive evidence to show the puck went out of play.
And the goal became the game-winner after the Wild denied five shots by the Penguins in the last 15 seconds, a flurry of a finish for Fleury and his teammates.
“That was vintage Flower,” Hynes said. “When you look at the highlights, even before in the ceremony, and you just take that last minute-and-a-half, you could just put those clips on the video, and it looks the same.”
The Wild are off to one of the best starts in franchise history, and Kirill Kaprizov is tied for the NHL scoring lead.
