Wild’s Marc-Andre Fleury only a ‘little bit’ disappointed not to be starting in Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH — Marc-Andre Fleury said Monday he’s disappointed he won’t be the Wild’s starting goalie in what might be his last game in the Penguins arena, where he started his career 20 years ago and won three Stanley Cups.
But only “a little bit,” he said. He’ll start Tuesday night in Boston, and for the first time this season, the Wild are winning — 7-2-0 in their past nine games.
“Team’s been good. Team’s been winning lately,” Fleury said after Monday’s morning skate at PPG Paints Arena. “Gus has been awesome. Just gotta keep it rolling.”
Filip Gustavsson has been lights-out during the Wild’s hot streak, which started when John Hynes became head coach on Nov. 27, going 6-1-0 with a 1.21 goals-against average and .953 save percentage.
“That’s just kind of the plan that we have,” Hynes said about the decision to start Gustavsson, “and (goaltending coach) Freddie (Chabot) talks to the goalies prior to the year and knocks some things out with them, and then we do it month by month.”
Four games shy of becoming the NHL’s third-winningest goaltender all-time, and four shy of 1,000 career games, Fleury, 39, has made only 11 starts this season, the last on a two-year, $7 million extension he signed in 2021. At season’s end, he will decide whether to retire, so Monday could mark his last game in Pittsburgh, where he won 375 games in 536 starts — 62 of those victories in the postseason.
“I thought about it, right?” Fleury said. “But (I) try not to make a big deal about it. Just enjoy the day, enjoy the people around the rink.”
In that sense, Fleury might well have preferred to wait until the Bruins game, the second of back-to-backs, to play on this short road trip. His Oct. 17 start at Montreal, possibly his last game in his native Quebec, was an event.
Asked last week whether he enjoyed that, Fleury said, “I don’t know, I don’t need more of a spotlight on me, or talking about it, right?”
Besides, the Penguins were his first NHL team, and he was a key figure in a team renaissance with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Maxine Talbot and others.
“Sometimes it’s a little awkward facing them,” he said Monday. “Sometimes I miss them, right? Just to skate with them, dinners, time on the plane, stuff like that. Obviously, it’s part of hockey, right?
“But it’s always nice to see them when I come back to town, or they come to Minny.”
Spurgeon back home
Hynes said after Saturday’s 2-1 shootout victory over Vancouver that he expected defenseman Jared Spurgeon, day-to-day with a lower body injury, to be on this road trip. But he isn’t.
“It’s not a setback,” Hynes said. “It’s just getting treatment and then getting back on the ice and skating. We thought it would be better for him physically, rather than having to travel and get a short skate here and then travel again tomorrow and skate on his own.”
Spurgeon, who missed the first 14 games of the season with an upper body injury, will miss his third straight game. Veteran defenseman Jonas Brodin, on long-term injured reserve, will miss his fourth. Under LTIR rules, he’ll be eligible to return Jan. 2 against Calgary.
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