The Minnesota Wild will honor goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury before he faces his former team when the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins pay a visit to St. Paul, Minn., Friday
The Wild will host “Marc-Andre Fleury Night” as they seek their second win in a row coming out of the NHL All-Star break. The tribute will include a pregame ceremony and other highlights.
Fleury, 39, is expected to start against the Penguins. He is 8-9-3 with a 2.95 goals-against average and an .897 save percentage in 23 games (20 starts) this season.
Fleury made his NHL debut as a teenager with Pittsburgh, where he played from 2003-17. He notched 375 victories with the Penguins before moving on to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Chicago Blackhawks and the Wild.
In eight career games against Pittsburgh, Fleury is 4-4-0 with a 3.19 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. He has 552 career wins, which ranks second in NHL history.
Fleury will face a Penguins squad looking for its third straight win after a 3-2 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 27 and a 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday night. Kris Letang, Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust all scored in the win against the Jets.
Letang said the Penguins have a chance to go on a run after the All-Star break.
“We have so many capable players that can play on a lot of top units everywhere in the league,” Letang said. “It’s just a question of finding some chemistry, and maybe going back to playing a little bit more simple, shooting more pucks.
“We spread the wealth (against Winnipeg) and got rewarded.”
Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins with 51 points (27 goals, 24 assists) in 47 games. Jake Guentzel ranks second with 50 points (22 goals, 48 assists) in 47 games, and Evgeni Malkin has 40 points (16 goals, 24 assists) in 47 games.
Minnesota is led in scoring by Kirill Kaprizov, who has 45 points (19 goals, 26 assists) in 43 games. Two players are tied for second in scoring, including Joel Eriksson Ek (21 goals, 18 assists) and Mats Zuccarello (eight goals, 31 assists) with 39 points apiece.
Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry is expected to get the start against Minnesota. Jarry, 28, has posted a 14-14-4 record this season with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage.
In four career games against Minnesota, Jarry is 3-0-1 with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
Minnesota is looking to build upon a 2-1 win over Chicago on Wednesday night.
Despite the victory, Wild coach John Hynes said his players continued to take too many risks.
“We found a way, but it wasn’t the right recipe to give ourselves a chance to win every night,” Hynes said. “We found a way to win the game, but in my opinion the standard needs to be much higher.”
Veteran Wild forward Marcus Foligno agreed.
“Enough’s enough,” Foligno said. “We’ve got to hold each other accountable. We’ve got to get ticked off. Our third period was better, but we could have had a better lead going into the third.”
–Field Level Media