For the final time, Marc-Andre Fleury will go up against the team that helped him realize his NHL dream.
The Minnesota Wild will face the Pittsburgh Penguins for the final time this season, and it will be significant for Fleury.
With Sunday’s start, Fleury moves into second place for all-time starts among NHL goalies with 1,015, passing Roberto Luongo’s 1,014. Fleury now only trails Martin Brodeur, who made 1,251 career starts.
The 40-year-old is taking his final lap around the NHL before retiring at the end of the season.
Selected first overall by the Penguins in 2003 as the starting piece of the next dynastic era for the franchise, Fleury went on to win three Stanley Cups, one Olympic gold, one Vezina Trophy and earned the honour of becoming the second-most-winning goalie in league history across three franchises.
He is the Penguins’ all-time leader among goalies in games played (691), wins (375) and goals-against average (2.58).
“It’s always still weird when I play against them,” Fleury told NHL.com before making the start. “Obviously I like to win against them to get a little bit of bragging rights, but they’ve been such great teammates and good friends and so it’s fun to cross paths.”
Fleury played his final game at PPG Paints arena on Nov. 4, where he led the Wild to a 5-3 win over the Penguins.
This season, he has a 12-7-1 record with a 2.76 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in 21 games (19 starts), and he ranks second all-time in wins with 573 (trailing Brodeur who has 691). Fleury has also appeared in 1,046 regular-season games, which is just second behind Brodeur, and his 76 career shutouts put him at fifth on the all-time list.
