Edmonton Oilers forward Kasperi Kapanen looks for a pass in front of Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury during the third period at Rogers Place on Nov. 21, 2024.Perry Nelson/Reuters
It certainly wasn’t the start Marc-Andre Fleury was expecting in what was otherwise a milestone night for the veteran Minnesota Wild goaltender.
Fleury made 29 saves between the pipes and Frederick Gaudreau had two goals and an assist as the Wild continued to pick up points at will, emerging with a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.
The 39-year-old netminder was making his 1,000th career NHL start and was playing in his 1,030th game to move into third overall in all-time games played behind only Martin Brodeur (1,266) and Roberto Luongo (1,044).
But it was the save that he didn’t make on the game’s very first shot just 27 seconds in that people will likely remember most about the contest.
A long, slowly rolling puck came from well outside the zone on the net and Fleury went to swat it up the ice, only to have it take a hop and bounce through his legs to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead, and Leon Draisaitl the easiest goal of his career.
“I haven’t played in so long, I wanted to do well and help the team and at the beginning to let that one in, I was mad for a little bit and then I just laughed, it was so stupid,” Fleury said. “It was coming, rolling to me and right in front of my stick it just bounced over.
“I let out a couple of ‘fringe’ and ‘fudge’ and then start over, there is nothing you can do anymore and then I stopped the next one.
“The guys came by and they gave me a tap and they laughed and kind of made it a little lighter.”
Wild forward Marcus Johansson admitted the goal was sort of amusing.
“It can happen to anyone. It’s just such a tough bounce,” he said. “I think it bounced by three guys so it was something that you almost just laugh off and start over. Stuff like that happens in hockey over a year and I feel like you laugh it off and Flower did too.
“He was unbelievable tonight. It was fun to see.”
Matt Boldy, Marcus Foligno and Johansson also scored for the Wild (13-3-3), who have gone 5-1-1 in their last seven games.
“Great road game again. Everyone’s pulling their weight. I feel like we’re playing real solid all over the ice,” Johansson said.
There was a brief scare as Wild star forward Kirill Kaprizov went down late in the second after Oilers forward and recent call-up Drake Caggiula stepped into him up high with a shoulder hit at mid-ice that sent him crashing hard to the ice, but he was able to return.
“Obviously frustrating seeing that happen and to us from our angle it didn’t look like a good hit,” said Minnesota head coach John Hynes. “When he goes down it’s not fun to see, so I’m happy he was able to come back.”
Draisaitl, Corey Perry and Jeff Skinner replied for the Oilers (10-9-2), who have lost three of their last four as the injury bug has taken a toll of late.
“I don’t think we are far off, it is just the compete level. It’s just a matter of competing, night-in, night-out,” Perry said. “Some nights we look great when we do it and when we don’t it’s ugly. They definitely out-competed us tonight.”
Draisaitl’s early goal on Fleury was his 15th goal of the season and the third goal of his career scored in the first 30 seconds of a game.
Stuart Skinner made 21 stops in net for the Oilers.