Fleury laments 'embarrassing' performance in Game 2 for Wild

DALLAS --Marc-Andre Fleury exhaled deeply as he sat in his stall following the Minnesota Wild's 7-3 loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 2 of the Western Conference First Round at American Airlines Center on Wednesday.

"Oh man, embarrassing on my part giving up seven goals like that in the Stanley Cup]*
Still, the seven goals were tied for the most Fleury has allowed in an NHL playoff game. He also gave up seven for the Pittsburgh Penguins in an 8-5 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 2 of the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
It was also the most goals the Wild have allowed in a playoff game in their history.
Despite all that, Stars coach Peter DeBoer said he "wouldn't be surprised" to see Fleury again later on in the series.
"They've been pretty transparent in their conversations even with the media that they were going to play both guys," said DeBoer, who coached Fleury with the Vegas Golden Knights from 2019-21. "We were ready for either guy tonight.
"Obviously, (I) know Flower. Both those goalies have been a huge part of why that team is where they are right now. During the season, they've both been excellent."
Evason was right in his assessment about how the Wild played in front of Fleury on Wednesday. They didn't play as clean as they did in Game 1, giving up too many odd-man rushes and breakaways, including two to Stars forward Roope Hintz, who scored on both and finished the game with three goals and an assist.
Hintz's first breakaway gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 4:14 of the first period. It was the Stars' first shot of the game and also came while they were short-handed.
"Not the start I wanted, giving up the first goal on the first shot," said Fleury, who hadn't played since April 11.
"I don't know. It doesn't matter how many days it's been. I've got to figure it out. I've played this game for a while now and had some good practices prior to that. That shouldn't have happened."
The Wild didn't help him, though, with 15 giveaways and going 3-for-6 on the penalty kill.
"Yeah, I mean, we gave them too many odd-man rushes and chances and we don't help Flower out at all," Wild forward Mats Zuccarello said. "That's what you get against good teams. So, we didn't play up to our standards, none of us today."

Fleury wasn't letting his teammates take all the blame, however.
"At some points (it was an uncharacteristic game), yeah," he said. "But like I said, I think we had to push to open up to try to create some offense, and we score two quick goals (in the second period), and I should have kept the score there to keep us in the game, and it went the other way."
When asked if there was something more Gustavsson could've done to get the start for Game 2, Evason said, "I don't know how to answer that because both goalies have earned obviously to be in the net.
"We made the decision to go with Flower. They had a short-handed breakaway and [three] power-play goals. What would you like Flower to do, right? He made some incredible saves for us.
"We just spoke of all the odd-man rushes that we gave up. Another one was a breakaway. Another one was a power play. That's what, five? We gave them their opportunities. They took them, too. They played really well, but we didn't do the right things in front of our goaltender tonight."
Fleury has come through in a lot of playoff games in his career, as evidenced by his three Stanley Cup championships with the Penguins (2009, 2016 and 2017) and helping the Golden Knights advance to the Cup Final in 2018. He wants to contribute to the Wild's success this postseason, as he did in the regular season, but Game 2 just didn't work out.
"I want to do good no matter what, but I think me and 'Gus' are partners," he said. "I don't feel like I play against him. He was tremendous and awesome that last game, and I just wanted to do my part, my job tonight and keep the team rolling and start a winning streak. And I didn't, and that [ticked] me off."
NHL.com independent correspondent Taylor Baird contributed to this report