Marc-Andre Fleury shuts out the New York Islanders to pass Patrick Roy for the second-most wins in the NHL and stops Wild's skid.
ST. PAUL - Just 15 minutes before puck drop Bill Guerin, the Wild's General Manager and President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin, stood at a podium and said "We aren't ready to wave the white flag or anything like that."
Before tonight's matchup, the Wild had lost eight of their previous nine games and seemed to hit rock bottom for the second time this season. But a convincing 5-0 win against the New York Islanders may say otherwise.
"I thought it was a really good, solid game. I thought like I said the other night, that we didn't play the game we wanted to," Wild head coach John Hynes said. "I thought tonight was probably the best game we've managed the puck in a long time. And you can see where that sets off your ability to generate offense, control the game. It also makes you a better defensive team."
After a 6-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on home ice, the Wild entered tonight's game losing six straight home games. They responded with a huge 5-0 win over the Islanders.
"I think we cleaned up a lot of areas that we felt in the last four-game stretch were major issues," Hynes said. "Tonight the players did a great job of executing and playing the game the right way."
Not only did the Wild beat the Islanders but they got Marc-Andre Fleury his 552nd which passes Patrick Roy for second all-time in wins. The 39-year-old goaltender stopped all 21 shots he faced to cap off his 74th career shutout in his 1,007th career game.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. I was talking to some guys over there, ‘It’s so cool to be a part of and be playing with him.’ He’s probably the best guy I’ve ever played with here on the team," Jonas Brodin said on Fleury. "He cares about the team, and he’s such a good guy. I’m so happy for him. It’s pretty cool to play with a guy like that.”
After the game was over Fleury was joined by two of his kids, James and Estelle, in his stall with a big smile on his face.
“I don’t know. It’s a little tough to think about," Fleury said. "I came in, my dream was to play in the NHL. I was so happy to play that first game. From then on, it was just one game at a time, one win at a time, trying to win the next one. I’ve been very fortunate to play with really great teams, great teammates, and people that helped me stay healthy, right, throughout the journey. It feels crazy to be here now.”
For a Wild team that had been slumping recently, a win like this for a teammate as special as Fleury could provide a huge spark. A spark that the Wild need badly if they want to take a big jump in the standings.
The Wild are going to have to go on a run where they win ten straight or maybe even ten of their next 15. The point is they need to win as many games as possible in a short amount of time or the season will flash before their eyes real soon.
"It is. I think we got a little bit wayward in those four games, and it cost us. But some of the things we talked about as a group, and addressed with the players, 21 goals in four games is not a recipe to win," Hynes said on how important it is to build off this game. "It’s the second half of the season, right, today was game 43. There’s a certain way that you need to play. There’s certain things we need to do to win to get ourselves back in the hunt and try to put ourselves in a position so we can challenge down the stretch and there’s certain things you have to do night in and night out in this league to win.
"Now it’s building off of what we did tonight and that’s got to become consistent. It’s got to become reliable night in and night out. I think if we do that, we’ll be able to get ourselves more traction than we’ve had as of late."
After the last game against the Coyotes, Mats Zuccarello took it upon himself to say it was embarrassing that they kept losing at home and it was an embarrassing game overall.
Tonight he scored the opening goal on the power play after catching a pass from Brock Faber. Zuccarello walked in on the left side and ripped home his seventh of the season past Ilya Sorokin.
"Well, I score once every 20 games, so it's nice to get one now and them. I think it’s more, I think we played a solid team game. Everyone contributed, whether it was a blocked shot, a goal, PK, Flower, everything. That’s the team game we have to play and hopefully, we can build on that and get on a run here."
Connor Dewar picked up the Wild's second goal in the second period after he intercepted a clearing attempt by Sebastian Aho and skated toward the slot from the blue line before wristering one past Sorokin for his seventh of the year.
Joel Eriksson Ek followed it up with two of his own. One of which was on the power play which was his eighth power-play goal of the year after redirecting a nice pass by Kirill Kaprizov past Sorokin.
Kenneth Appleby replaced Sorokin for the third period and let up two goals on eight shots. Eriksson Ek scored a shorthanded goal and Marcus Foligno followed it up with a goal in the final minute of the game.
This was a big win for both Fleury and the Wild. Hopefully, a win like that will turn the season around yet the standings may prove that to be tricky. But it sure isn't impossible.
"There are some positive things going on," Guerin said. "We do have a lot of hockey to be played, but we don’t have time to waste. We don’t have games to waste. … That’s the reality of it.”