Marc-Andre Fleury may not play as much as he did a couple of years ago or in the prime of his career, but he’s still a crucial part of the Minnesota Wild, and last night, he played a big part in the Minnesota Wild’s first-ever goalie goal, although he wasn’t on the ice.
The Minnesota Wild were on a powerplay and held a 3-1 lead in the game’s final minute against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday when Pavel Bechnevich fired a slapshot against the Wild’s goal. Filip Gustavsson made an easy save with his trapper—his 27th of the night—and dropped it onto the ice. He saw the opportunity, and seconds later, the puck was in the other net.
He became the 15th goaltender in NHL regular season history to score a goal, and his teammates and coaches just couldn’t have been happier about it.
”That was awesome,” general manager Bill Guerin said. ”You don’t see a goalie goal every day.”
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But the goal would probably never have happened if it wasn’t for Marc-Andre Fleury. Serving as the backup goalie for the Wild on Tuesday, he acted quickly when the Blues’ head coach, Drew Bannister, called timeout. The Blues were down two and tried killing off a double minor. He pulled the goalie to play five-on-five, and Fleury knew that an opportunity was probable to show up.
”I called a quick goalie meeting,” Fleury said post-game, per The Athletic, laughing.
Gustavsson also revealed what Fleury told him during the timeout.
”Flower looked up to the board and was like, ’We’re up two goals. You should probably try it if you get the chance. You’re shooting, right?’” Gustavsson said. ”I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe I should.’”
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Gustavsson said he’d never scored a goal before, at any level. But now, with the Wild up two goals, it was too good of an opportunity to let go. And Marc-Andre Fleury had the perfect way of describing how everything unfolded, from Gustavsson saving the puck to quickly putting it down on the ice and then releasing it high and hard enough so no Blues player could reach it, despite several trying with their sticks high over their heads.
”Textbook,” Fleury simply said.
