Jets spoil Fleury's big night as Wild fall 3-2 to Winnipeg

ST. PAUL - It felt like the Wild had this game under control and that Marc-Andre Fleury was about to win his 551st game to tie Patrick Roy for second all-time in wins in what was his 1,000th career game played. 

Until it didn't.

“Better effort. It’s a tough game to lose but all in all it was a good game. It had everything," Marcus Foligno said. "It’s tough to lose it for Flower like that in that sense, 1,000 games, hell of an accomplishment. You want to win it for him. Disappointing the way it had to end there.”

In the third period the Wild had a 2-1 lead over the Jets but quickly watched their one goal lead evaporate after Jake Middleton went to the box for a questionable tripping penalty that the Jets ended up scoring on 12 seconds in to tie it. 

"It felt really good," Vladislav Namestnikov said on his game tying goal. "I thought we were getting better the previous couple games. We were getting more pucks on net, but sometimes it’s just not going in. So it was nice to see that one go in.” 

Dominic Toninato later scored his first goal of the season three minutes later for the eventual game winning goal to spoil Fleury's 1,000th game. 

"Yeah. He's just such an amazing goalie," Toninato, the Duluth, Minnesota native said on Fleury. "Pretty cool to be a part of the 1,000th game. Only four goalies have done that in history. Really special night. Huge to get the win and get back to Winnipeg with both of them."

For the Wild's side of things it's frustrating to watch this game slip out of their fingertips especially with what was at stake. Not only Fleury's milestones but the team's odds at a potential playoff bid down the road. 

The Wild have now dropped two straight games to a Central division team but have a lot of games against divisional opponents coming up that they need to take advantage of and win. 

"Yeah, I think every game is important. You're trying to win the game that is going to be in front of you," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "I think for us it's really assessing the last two games. I thought last night, Winnipeg was the better team in lots of areas and we weren't as good as we needed to be. Tonight, I thought we were much better in the areas that we weren't last night and gave ourselves a chance to win the game. So moving forward, we have a game on Tuesday and to me it's really dry what we took out of these last two games and then really coming into Tuesday's game ready to get to the game that gives us a chance to win. More importantly, finding a way to win the game. That's what our focus is."

It's hard to climb back into the playoff race after you start the season 5-10-4 but the Wild have gone 11-5-0 since then and are 16-15-4 overall which is only four points out of a playoff spot. 

Despite the loss and losing the game in that fashion the Wild almost squeaked out a win against a good Winnipeg team without Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Filip Gustavsson, Jonas Brodin, and Vinni Lettieri who are all injured right now. 

“It’s big. You kind of just throw it right into All-Star break now. We gotta get to that, call it the refresh button," Foligno said on the injuries and how big of a test this is. "It’s obviously tough timing. We got some key guys out and you never like to see that. You think if you have Zuccy, Kirill and Brodes in there it’s a different game. But you know what? We’re playing well. We got the systems and the guys in here to squeak wins out, and that’s what we have to do. When you have guys out like that, you gotta play a lot simpler and create chances in their zone and just be hard to play against. Something we just gotta pay attention to detail next game and something that I think our team is capable of.”

It was Foligno who scored the game's first goal which wasn't long after the Jets successfully challenged Ryan Hartman's goal which deemed to be offsides. 

But Foligno scored his sixth goal of the year after Jared Spurgeon fired a shot to the net. Foligno tipped home his third goal in his last four games giving the Wild a 1-0 lead. 

"He played great. He played a lot of tough situations," Hynes said on Foligno. "That line was matched up, for the most part, Lowry’s line which is a big, strong, heavy line. I thought Marcus played one of his identity games really. He was physical, he was skating. He made some plays, obviously the goal and it was good to see him step up like that."

In the second period the Jets tied the game at 1-1 after Adam Lowry knocked home his seventh goal of the year. Lowry, who dropped the gloves with Pat Maroon just two seconds into the game tied the game for the Jets which lasted a full period. 

“He just asked if I wanted to go," Lowry said on Maroon asking him to fight. "They started that line, they play physical and are heavy on the forecheck. We knew they would come out and probably be looking for a response after Kaprizov gets hurt. Just settle things down. Try to get it out of the way rather than wait a little bit. He asked me politely, let me take the faceoff and it was one of the few ones I won tonight. So got that out of the way and we were able to play some hockey."

Freddy Gaudreau eventually gave the Wild the lead in the third period on the power play after a nice pass by Marcus Johansson who has been on a roll recently. But the Wild later suffered two straight goals just three minutes a part to spoil Fleury's 1,000th career game. 

"Yeah. I don’t know. I’m kinda happy it’s over," Fleury said when asked about what it felt like to play in his 1,000th game. "I wish it was a win. Disappointing. I thought the guys played great tonight. Battled hard. It’s a better game than last night in Winnipeg but two points is what’s important here. Obviously very flattered by the reception from the crowd, from my teammates. It means a lot. I feel very fortunate that I’ve played for so long and I got to do what I love for many years. I’m lucky for that."