Penguins Face Controversial Challenge in Loss to Wild on Fleury's Night

During the pregame ceremony for Marc-Andre Fleury Night on Friday in Minnesota, the former Penguins netminder and three-time Stanley Cup Champion with Pittsburgh got emotional watching the tribute video.

It highlighted the uniqueness of his recent achievements, as Fleury could be the last goaltender ever to reach 1,000 games. He moved past Patrick Roy (551 career wins) for second-most all-time among NHL goaltenders behind Martin Brodeur (691 career wins), who both sent congratulatory wishes. It finished with the sweetest messages from his three children, daughters Estelle and Scarlett, and son James.

“The most amazing thing is really the person that you are. Everybody in this game loves you. Congratulations on a great night, and enjoy it,” Wild GM Bill Guerin said.

Fleury then went out and made 33 stops in a 3-2 win over the Penguins, which could be the last time the 39-year-old plays against his old team, as his future beyond this season is uncertain.

For as much as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang love their friend who’s like family to them – gifting Fleury with a special painting from local artist Cody Sabol before the game – they would have liked to find a couple more goals.

“He made some big saves, obviously,” Crosby said. “We pushed pretty hard there late. You always know that he's going to compete and battle, but you still ultimately want to get the two points, obviously. It was a really nice ceremony before the game. I thought they did a great job recognizing what he's accomplished, and it's great to be a part of that. But you still want to have the bragging rights at the end of the night.”

The game featured a lot of special teams, with the Penguins getting a four-minute power play just 25 seconds in after Jake Middleton was assessed a double minor for high sticking on Crosby, which they didn’t convert. The Wild defenseman then drew a high-sticking double minor, and Minnesota took advantage.

Reilly Smith, playing in his second game back after missing six in a row with an upper-body injury, evened things up in the second period with his first goal since Dec. 18 – also against Minnesota. Jonas Brodin responded to send the Wild into the intermission with a lead, but Crosby tied it just 1:01 into the third.

With the Penguins on another early power play, the captain perfectly re-directed a feed from Erik Karlsson. But just over the midway point of the final frame, Kirill Kaprizov’s tally stood despite a coach’s challenge from Pittsburgh, arguing that the puck had gone out of play and hit the netting behind the goal. The Penguins didn’t agree with the decision not to overturn the goal.

“I clearly don't agree with it, otherwise, I wouldn't have challenged it,” Penguins Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “Every player on the ice saw it, even their players. So, they thought it was inconclusive. We felt like there was an angle that showed the puck clearly changed direction, and every player in the rink saw.”

“Most of the guys on the ice felt that it hit the net. It sucks being on the wrong side of some of these challenges,” Crosby said. “Why do the reply if you’re not going to get it right? I know some things are tough, but if you’re going to have the rule that you can review one into the net, then get a view that shows it instead of being inconclusive. I know they’re not going to get every single one right, but don’t have a review if you’re not going to at least have decent angles to get it.”

From there, the Penguins continued to battle looking for the tying goal, but couldn’t find it thanks to some late heroics from Fleury and his teammates with Pittsburgh on another man-advantage and Alex Nedeljkovic pulled for the extra attacker.

“He played amazing. It’s an exciting night for him, emotional night for him and probably the whole city, you know?” Malkin said. “We had probably five or six scoring chances in the last 30 seconds… 6-on-4, it’s a great chance to score. We try, but the Wild played very well, they’re blocking shots. They win for Flower, for sure.”