ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury took one final skate across the rink after his last handshake line in the NHL.
As the victorious Vegas Golden Knights respectfully patted the goalie with the second-most wins in league history on the shoulder, the fans at Xcel Energy Center chanted Fleury’s name while his Minnesota Wild teammates lingered for the stick-tap salute.
Though the final on-ice tribute to the retiring Fleury gave the Wild a few minutes to forget about another frustrating finish, the harsh reality after a well-played series was yet another first-round exit — and one that formally ended the 21-year career of one of the most revered players in league history.
“You feel for him. I think we all pushed really hard for him and trying to extend this as long as we can,” left wing Marcus Foligno said after Minnesota’s 3-2 loss to Vegas in Game 6 on Thursday night. “The big goal was to go out a winner. That would have been the ultimate sacrifice and ultimate dream going out.”
Fleury was a backup on this team who played infrequently down the stretch in favor of Filip Gustavsson, who quietly had a solid bounce-back season in the shadow of all the league-wide praise for Fleury, who won three Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh and returned to the finals in 2018 with Vegas in the franchise’s inaugural season.
Foligno’s voice cracked as he spoke about Fleury, and a few minutes later in the losing locker room left wing Kirill Kaprizov sounded emotional about the departure, too.
“It’s probably so hard for him, you know? His last game, and it was nice to play with him in my career a little bit for a couple of seasons together,” said Kaprizov, who had five goals in the series but struggled to find space to operate in Game 6. “We can learn so much stuff from him.”
In three appearances in the playoffs with the Wild, Fleury was never able to experience the deep runs he became so accustomed to with the Penguins and the Golden Knights.
“Should have won one of those OT games, I guess,” said Gustavsson, whose illness in Game 5 forced Fleury into action for the third period and overtime. “Every game that we’ve been losing has been very tight.”
Though the Wild outscored the Golden Knights 19-18 over the series, they were left with yet more what-ifs to gnaw at them throughout the spring and summer.
The last time Minnesota made it out of the opening round was 10 years ago. Starting with the second-round loss to eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago that spring, the Wild have lost nine consecutive series.
That’s tied for the third-longest streak in NHL history, according to Sportradar. The record is 13, started by the Winnipeg Jets in 1987 and finally ended by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2012 after the franchise had moved to Arizona.
With eight straight one-and-done appearances in the playoffs, the Wild have matched the second-longest skid in league history. The Jets-Coyotes franchise has the record with 12.
“It’s obviously disappointing right now because you feel like you deserve a little bit better, at least in the last few games here,” coach John Hynes said, “Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way.’’
The Wild barely made the playoffs after missing first linemates Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek for much of the season to injuries. The constraints of their salary cap from the contract buyouts of former cornerstones Zach Parise and Ryan Suter hampered their ability to add the kind of scoring depth that’s necessary for Stanley Cup playoff runs.
Those big cap hits will finally dissipate this summer, creating maximum flexibility for general manager Bill Guerin to supplement the forward group around the star Kaprizov, budding standouts Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, stalwarts like Eriksson Ek and Foligno.
“We’re all looking forward to that, just having a clean slate so to speak and a team that can not be handcuffed so to speak,” Foligno said. “I think we’re excited for that opportunity, and at the end of the day it’s up to us in here to do something with it.”
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