Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury could be in the crease to face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final time of his Hall of Fame career when the teams meet Sunday afternoon in Saint Paul, Minn.
Fleury, 40, spent the first 13 seasons of his decorated career with the Penguins. A three-time Stanley Cup champion and 2020-21 Vezina Trophy recipient, Fleury has made it known that he plans to retire at the end of the season.
Fleury’s return to Pittsburgh went well on Oct. 29. He made 26 saves and Frederick Gaudreau (two goals, one assist) and Kirill Kaprizov (one goal, two assists) each recorded three-point performances to lead the Wild to a 5-3 victory over the Penguins.
Minnesota goaltender Filip Gustavsson has played in twice as many games as Fleury this season. The former made his fourth straight start and turned aside 17 shots in a 3-1 road setback to the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.
Defenseman Brock Faber scored the lone goal for the Wild, who have lost four of their last six games but hold the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“That’s as frustrating as it gets, a game like that,” Faber said of Friday’s loss. “I thought we outplayed them 80 percent of the game, maybe 75 percent of the game, probably doubled their grade-A chances. Those ones are as frustrating as they get for sure.”
Minnesota coach John Hynes was pleased with his team’s performance, just not the result.
“I talked to the players after the game,” Hynes said. “It’s a hard league to win in, but if we ice the game that we iced tonight, we’re going to give ourselves the best chance to win most nights.”
Out since late January following surgery for a lower-body injury, Kaprizov has a club-best goals (23) for the Wild, while Matt Boldy leads in both assists (33) and points (54). Boldy set up Faber’s power-play goal in the third period on Friday to boost his total to six points (one goal, five assists) in the last seven games.
Meanwhile, the Penguins are spiraling to the tune of having four straight losses (0-3-1) and eight in their last nine games overall (1-7-1).
Their offense has been non-existent during the first two legs of their three-game road trip, save for Rickard Rakell’s team-leading 29th goal in a 4-1 setback at the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Rakell, who scored twice in the first meeting with Minnesota, joined the rest of his teammates in being held in check in a 4-0 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
“We played well for the first two periods,” Rakell said. “Then the third kind of got away from us a little bit. Early on in the first two periods, I thought we had some good scoring chances and some good opportunities to keep the game close. But in the third, we got away from it a little bit.”
Superstar captain Sidney Crosby saw his four-game point streak halted versus Vegas. He set up three goals in the previous meeting with Minnesota and leads the Penguins in assists (47) and points (66).
The Wild (14-13-1 at home) will play 10 of their next 11 games on their ice, with Sunday serving as the opener of a season-high seven-game homestand. The Penguins have struggled away from Pittsburgh (10-18-5), including four straight losses entering Sunday.
