Marc-Andre Fleury reaches one milestone, misses another in Wild's 3-2 loss to Jets

Marc-Andre Fleury is making and chasing history at the same time.

Fleury became just the fourth goaltender to play 1,000 NHL games Sunday, but he's still one win shy of tying Patrick Roy for the second-most victories of all time after the Jets dumped the Wild 3-2 at Xcel Energy Center to sweep the weekend series between the Central Division rivals.

"I'm kinda happy it's over," Fleury said. "I wish it was a win. Disappointing. I thought the guys played great."

At 550 career wins, Fleury trails only Roy (551) and Martin Brodeur (691).

The Wild's next game is Tuesday night at home vs. the Calgary Flames.

"It's right there," winger Marcus Foligno said. "It would have been nice to tie [Roy] in his 1,000th game, to get it done, but we know Tuesday there's a chance to do it right away."

This milestone arrived earlier than expected because Fleury made a surprise appearance Saturday at Winnipeg, logging No. 999 when he replaced Filip Gustavsson after Gustavsson was injured in the Wild's 4-2 loss.

Kirill Kaprizov was also hurt that game, and both he and Gustavsson sat out the rematch — a more Wild-like effort than their performance a day earlier but still a letdown that culminated in back-to-back losses for only the second time under coach John Hynes (11-5).

After Frederick Gaudreau's power-play goal at 3 minutes, 56 seconds of the third period lifted the Wild to a 2-1 lead, the Jets retaliated just 56 seconds later with their own power-play marker from Vladislav Namestnikov before Dominic Toninato completed the comeback at 7:32. Winnipeg was 1-for-3 on the power play.

Toninato, a former Minnesota Duluth captain, also had a key shot block in the waning seconds to help end the Wild's seven-game winning streak in St. Paul.

"We had an opportunity to win the game," Hynes said. "But I think when you get into these tight games like this against a really good team, it comes down to details, and tonight that was probably the difference in the game."

After saluting Fleury's 1,000th-game accomplishment with a solo lap in warmups that's usually reserved for rookies making their NHL debut, the Wild gifted their goalie a first-period buffer when Foligno deflected in his third goal in his past four games at 18:07 — this after Ryan Hartman's fifth goal in five games was overturned because of an off-side review initiated by a Winnipeg challenge.

But Jets captain Adam Lowry erased his team's deficit only 2:08 into the second period when he backhanded in a rebound to ultimately put in motion a rally the Wild couldn't stop.

Winnipeg's game-winner came during a delayed Wild penalty. The Wild's power play capitalized on its only chance against the Jets and goalie Laurent Brossoit, who finished with 24 saves after an opening-faceoff fight between Lowry and the Wild's Pat Maroon that was indicative of the previous afternoon's events.

Kaprizov left that game after getting cross-checked in the back by Brenden Dillon, what was relayed to Hynes as a "missed call" since Dillon wasn't penalized.

The Wild leading scorer has an upper-body injury, while Gustavsson exited early because of a lower-body injury, and both players were still getting evaluated, Hynes said. Vinni Lettieri (lower-body injury) was also sidelined Sunday, and the Wild recalled forward Nic Petan from the minors along with goalie Zane McIntyre to back up Fleury.

Already, the Wild were without defenseman Jonas Brodin and veteran winger Mats Zuccarello because of injury.

"It's not who's out. It's who's in," Hynes said. "It's finding a way to win with who's in."

One who continues to be in the Wild's lineup is Fleury, the 39-year-old future Hall of Famer, who racked up 26 stops to become only the third goalie to surpass 26,000 saves.

Fleury received stick taps from both teams and a standing ovation from the 19,129 in attendance when his 1,000-game feat was recognized during the first period.

Soon, the Wild could be commemorating another rare achievement.

"Obviously very flattered by the reception from the crowd, from my teammates," Fleury said. "It means a lot. I feel very fortunate that I've played for so long and I got to do what I love for many years.

"I'm lucky for that."