Minnesota Wild centre Connor Dewar (26) celebrates his goal over Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) during first period NHL hockey action in Montreal on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
MONTREAL – Marc-Andre Fleury wouldn’t say if Tuesday night’s game was his last in Montreal.
But if it was, it was a fitting finale in his home province for the 38-year-old from Sorel, Que.
Fleury made 27 saves in his first start this NHL season, earned the game’s first star and received a standing ovation from the Bell Centre crowd as his Minnesota Wild beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Tuesday night.
“It was a nice moment,” said Fleury, still wiping off the shaving cream teammate Marcus Foligno stuffed in his face during a post-game interview.
“I always said I was a big fan of the Canadiens and to have the people of Quebec here and having the people cheer me on and encourage me, it was a good feeling.”
Fleury told reporters Monday it could be his final start in Montreal. After the game, he was focused on enjoying the moment.
“I’m not sure if it’s done or not,” said Fleury, who had around 90 friends and family in the building. “I don’t want to talk too much of that side of it for today, the present moment was really a special night for me.”
Outside the crease, the story of the game was special teams.
Brandon Duhaime and Connor Dewar scored short-handed goals 25 seconds apart midway through the first period to put the Wild up 2-0.
It was Montreal’s first time allowing two short-handed goals on the same power play since April 11, 2009, against Fleury’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
Joel Eriksson Ek then scored twice on the power play, and Kirill Kaprizov had another with the man-advantage to round out the goals for Minnesota (2-1-0). Mats Zuccarello pitched in with three assists.
“Too many penalties, you give up two short-handed goals “¦ it’s hard to start the game that way,” said St. Louis. “I think we stayed together and we fought, but with all those penalties your game plan doesn’t matter anymore, you can’t find a rhythm.”
Tanner Pearson and Alex Newhook replied for Montreal (1-1-1). Samuel Montembeault stopped 30 shots in the Canadiens net.
The Wild went 3-for-8 on the power play. The Canadiens were 0-for-5.
“Our PK has been good, they’ve obviously pressured and had a lot of good opportunities,” said Wild coach Dean Evason. “Nice to get our power play going, too.”
Duhaime opened the scoring midway through the first period on a short-handed two-on-one after the Canadiens failed to gain the zone on multiple occasions.
Dewar added to Montreal’s misery moments later with a bizarre goal that went over Montembeault’s head and was knocked in by his own defenceman, Arber Xhekaj.
Despite facing just five shots in the first, Fleury had to be sharp with a couple saves in front of the net on Newhook and Josh Anderson.
The Wild did their damage in a different manner in the second and third, taking advantage of an undisciplined Canadiens team.
After Eriksson Ek scored on a 5-on-3 power play, Pearson scored on Montreal’s sixth shot of the game 9:47 into the second to bring the Bell Centre crowd to life.
But that was short-lived as Kaprizov made it 4-1 on the power play late in the period after Montreal’s Juraj Slafkovsky took a penalty in the offensive zone.
“We did not give ourselves a chance to win. We can’t do the things that we did,” said veteran Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher. “The amount of penalties we had “¦ continuing to take penalties and putting our penalty kill in a tough position. We can’t do that.
“(Montembeault) actually made a lot of really big saves early in the game to give us a chance, it was not a very smart game by us by any means.”
Fleury was tested early in the third but robbed Canadiens defenceman Jonathan Kovacevic in front of the net, falling on his back to make a vintage cartwheel save.
The veteran netminder hadn’t been tested much to that point.
“I try to follow the beat of the game, but sometimes moves like that show my age,” said Fleury. “We don’t often see young guys doing that. But I still have fun making saves like that, for sure.”
DACH OUT FOR SEASON
The Canadiens announced after the game that forward Kirby Dach has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after sustaining ACL and MCL tears in his right knee that will require surgery.
Dach was checked into the Blackhawks’ bench by defenceman Jarred Tinordi during the first period of Montreal’s home opener against Chicago on Saturday.
Adding insult to injury, Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle left for the dressing room late in the second with an upper-body ailment and did not return. The Canadiens said after the game that he was still being evaluated.
QUEBEC CONNECTION
The matchup between Fleury and Montembeault, of Becancour, Que., marked the first time two Quebec-born goalies faced off in Montreal since Jan. 3, 2006.
“There aren’t as many Québécois goalies as there used to be,” said Fleury. “I’m wishing him good luck for the season.”
Fleury, who turns 39 in November, ranks third all-time in wins with 545, behind fellow Quebec-born netminders Patrick Roy (551) and Martin Brodeur (691).
UP NEXT
Canadiens: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
Wild: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2023.
