Marc-Andre Fleury starts strong, finishes stronger as Wild beat Penguins, 3-2

On the night the Wild officially celebrated Marc-Andre Fleury’s 1,000 NHL games and 552 career victories, second-most all-time, the veteran goaltender showed a sellout crowd at Xcel Energy Center the moves that got him there in a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Kirill Kaprizov scored his 20th goal of the season, and Matt Boldy added a goal and assist, but as he did on the night he passed Patrick Roy for second on the career wins list — a shutout against the New York Islanders — Fleury was spectacular.

The 20-year veteran stopped 33 of 35 shots against the team that picked him first overall in the 2003 entry draft, and won three Stanley Cups with Fleury. He started the game by making three saves on a 4-minute minor and ended it with several in the final 1:50 of play when the Penguins were skating 6 on 4.

Former teammate Sidney Crosby got him for the tying goal early in the third period, but Fleury held on for his 553rd NHL victory, second only to Martin Brodeur’s 691.

Fleury, 39, played his 1,000th game in a 3-2 loss to Winnipeg on Dec. 31 and passed Roy with a 5-0 shutout victory over the Islanders on Jan. 15.

Jonas Brodin also scored for Minnesota, and Brock Faber had an assist on Boldy’s first-period goal to set a new record for assists by a rookie defenseman with 27. The Wild have won two straight since returning from their bye week/all-star break.

Boldy started the scoring with a strong power-play goal in the first period.

In the second half, after a 4-minute high sticking minor on Lars Eller, Boldy took a pass from Kaprizov above the circles and skated straight through the slot, shooting around defenseman Marcus Pettersson to beat Alex Nedeljkovic for a 1-0 lead at 12:57.

The Penguins tied the score early in the second period on a rush. After failing to keep the zone on the other end, the Wild lost track of the puck in the neutral zone, and Evgeni Malkin corralled it at the half boards. He sent a cross-ice pass to Smith, who one-timed in nearside to beat Fleury at 2:54.

Brodin tied it less than 3 minutes later.

The defenseman chased down a rebound in the left corner, kept possession and skated the puck from behind the goal line into the slot. Pettersson got a stick on it, but Boldy got it back, turned and fired on net to beat Nedeljkovic at 6:12.

It stayed that way until Crosby skated from behind the net into a soft spot in the corner of the crease and deflected a perfect pass from the point by Erik Karlsson just 1:01 into the third period.

Kaprizov appeared to put the Wild back on top at 9:34 when he swiped a pass from Zach Bogosian into the near corner, but Penguins coach Mike Sullivan challenged the goal, saying a Penguins player had deflected the puck over the glass and into the netting before the play.

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