Future Hall of Famer Marc-Andre Fleury earned his 551st career victory — tying Patrick Roy for second all-time in regular season wins — in the Minnesota Wild's 4-3 come-from-behind overtime win over the Columbus Blue Jackets inside Nationwide Arena on Saturday night.
Fleury made 25 saves and tied Roy in front of his former junior coach in Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent. Fleury spent parts of four seasons under Vincent while playing for the Cape Breton Eagles in the QMJHL from the 2000-01 season to the 2003-04 campaign.
"I know Dewey says he's 50," Marco Rossi told the media, referring to Brandon Duhaime, "but for me, he looks like 25."
There are still times where Fleury, 39, looks like he's in his prime. In overtime on Saturday, Fleury robbed Yegor Chinakhov with a glove save to keep the game tied. Fleury, showing off his athleticism, saved the Wild from losing their fifth in a row.
"One of the best teammates I've ever had," Brock Faber told the media. "It’s really surreal. It doesn’t quite feel real for me just looking at him knowing when I was 12, 13, 14, starting to really get into hockey, I was watching this guy.
“It’s crazy. Surreal."
Fleury will likely start a fifth consecutive game and have an opportunity to pass Roy for sole possession of second place in the NHL's all-time wins list when the Wild host the Dallas Stars on Monday.
The Wild's four-game losing streak came to an end in the win as they improved to 4-15-1 when allowing the game's first goal and 17-17-4 on the season.
Although the Wild outshot the Blue Jackets 37-28, it was a fairly even game with Columbus controlling 51.7% of the five-on-five Corsi and expected goal share, according to Natural Stat Trick.
But the Wild were still on the verge of losing their fifth in a row. The Wild had nine of the game's first 11 shots, but the Blue Jackets still scored first on their third shot. Cole Sillinger, who scored a hat trick, gave Columbus a 1-0 lead when he one-timed Jake Bean's centering pass past Fleury 8:09 into the contest.
Matt Boldy responded with a one-timer from the top of the right circle that got past Daniil Tarasov (four goals allowed on 37 shots) with 5:12 left in the first on the power play to tie the game.
The Blue Jackets reclaimed their lead just 17 seconds into the middle frame when Sillinger's shot from the edge of the right circle beat Fleury under the bar after a no-look pass from Kirill Marchenko, who pickpocketed Jake Middleton moments earlier.
Then, midway through the second, Boldy beat Tarasov glove side on the backhand after receiving a cross-slot feed from Mats Zuccarello, who had a primary assist, a +1 rating and seven shots in 24:15 of ice time in his return from injury after missing the past nine games due to an upper-body injury.
Boldy’s second power play goal of the night and 13th goal of the season tied the game again.
But Jon Merrill took a costly, ill-advised tripping penalty early in the third period, and the Blue Jackets made him and the Wild pay for it on the ensuing power play. Sillinger tipped Adam Boqvist's point shot past Fleury, completing the hat trick with 14:15 remaining in the contest.
The Blue Jackets sustained the lead until the game got Wild in the final minute. Fleury attempted to get to the bench for an extra attacker but he was forced to go back and made a diving attempt to stop Justin Danforth, who had the chance to end it but missed the empty net.
Then on the other end, Johansson beat Tarasov on the backhand from the edge of the right circle with 1:22 left after Ryan Hartman found him in the slot. It’s the Wild’s first 6-on-5 goal this season.
Then, with a minute and 55 seconds left in overtime, Marco Rossi's one-timer from a sharp angle off Boldy's pass beat Tarasov short side to give the Wild their first win in 2024. Rossi is up to 12 goals and 24 points in 38 games; Both marks rank second behind Chicago’s Connor Bedard in rookie scoring.
Boldy delivered one of his best games of the season with two power play markers, a primary assist and seven shots (11 attempts) in 22:27 of ice time. And Brock Faber played another strong game as usual and had three assists.
The Wild went 2-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. Adam Raska played six minutes and 31 seconds in his Wild debut.
The Wild face the Stars in St. Paul on Monday and Dallas on Wednesday.