NHL: Without Fleury, Wild can’t complete comeback

The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Minnesota Wild 4-3 on Monday. Pinned to the bench, Quebec’s Marc-Andre Fleury watched his team advance, without being able to score the final shot in a game in which Sidney Crosby made the difference with the game-winning goal.

Penguins forward Riley Smith opened the scoring midway through the first period. The former Vegas Golden Knights team took advantage of the good play behind the net of rookie pen player Valtteri Postinen, who was able to steal the ball from 38-year-old veteran Alex Goligoski before giving it to Smith in front of the net.

Pittsburgh’s second and third goals came midway through the period. First off, Jake Guentzel took advantage of Zach Bogosian on the block for his 14th goal^H This season. The American also allowed Sidney Crosby to overtake Mark Recchi to take 13th place in history for the most career points with 1,534.

Evgeni Malkin then increased his team’s lead less than three minutes later. Postinen’s second assist of the game allowed Malkin to score in an open cage after Filip Gustafsson was compromised to his left.

That’s when the Wild began their comeback. Ryan Hartman scored his team’s first goal in the second half of the second half, thanks to a goal from a rebound shot into the mouth of the net. Jake Middleton then halved the deficit with his fifth goal of the season, just over two minutes later, allowing his team to go into the dressing room trailing by just one goal.

Vinny Lettieri tied the game early in the third period thanks to a nice deflection on a shot from former Canadiens John Merrill.

Except Crosby came back 47 seconds later, on the power play. Sid the Kid meanwhile gave his team the lead for good, as well as collecting 1,535^H Career point.

For his part, Alex Nedeljkovic tried to score into the empty net at the end of the match, but to no avail, while his powerful shot missed the goal.

Fleury is on the bench for his final stint in Pittsburgh

Newly coached John Hynes preferred to give the 39-year-old veteran a night off against his former team. However, the crowd at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh took it upon themselves to remember their love for Sorrell’s goalkeeper, while chants of “We want Fleury” could be heard at halftime.

The first overall pick of the Penguins in 2003, Fleury won three Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh alongside Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kristoffer Letang, and all three are still with the team. In a potential final duel in Pittsburgh, Fleury admitted he had already thought about it.

“I thought about it. I try not to overdo it, to enjoy my day, the people and the arena.”

At 39 years old, Fleury has a 4-5-2 record this season with a 3.29 goals-against average and a .886 save percentage, far from his best years.

The wings dig a very large hole for themselves

The Anaheim Ducks scored three goals in the first period, en route to a 4-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

It was the Ducks’ second win in 24 hours, after they stunned the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.

Prior to those two victories, Greg Kunin’s side had won just once in their previous 14 matches.

Two defenders allowed the defenders to have the upper hand in the match, while veteran Radko Gudas and rookie Pavel Mentyukov deceived the alertness of Ville Husu during the first nine minutes.

Hosso appeared to hurt his lower body in the sequence leading to Mentyukov’s net, and he retreated to the locker room, leaving the cage to teammate James Reimer.

Before the first intermission, Adam Henrique scored his fourth goal in two games — recording his first NHL hat-trick on Sunday — by deftly deflecting a shot from the point between Reimer’s pads.

The Ducks didn’t stop there, seeing Troy Terry join the party at 1:46 of the second period.

Only then did Detroit find its rhythm, starting with Jeff Petry’s first goal of the season, 43 seconds after scoring the fourth.

The Wings’ numerical superiority allowed the Michigan team to believe in the possibility of a comeback.

Alex DeBrincat put up his No. 14^H And 15^H The goals, each time fed by Shane Gostisbehere, so that the locals got closer to the goal with the scoreboard 2:29.

Young goalkeeper Lukas Dostal came close to making history when the Wings removed Reimer in favor of a sixth skater.

Dostal fired the ball towards an abandoned net 200 feet away, but his effort missed the target just centimeters from the right post.

Finally, the young Czech goalkeeper held his own, making 29 saves.

Duchene takes care of the kraken

A three-point performance from Matt Duchene allowed the Dallas Stars to beat the Seattle Kraken 4-3 in overtime.

Duchenne actually scored twice in the game, sending a smart pass into the slot to Thomas Harley in extra time, who only had to redirect the ball to the back of the net to play hero.

Duchenne had previously opened the scoring after only 84 seconds of play, in addition to making the score 3-1 midway through the second half with his second goal of the match. Jason Robertson scored the other goal for the Stars, the tenth goal^H In the countryside. Joe Pavelski had two assists.

For his part, Tomas Tatar scored his first goal in a Kraken uniform, in his second match, in addition to being a partner in Matty Benners’ fifth goal this season a little later in the match.

Tatar reduced the gap at the start of the second half to 2-1, while Beniers made it 3-2 midway through the half.

With just 21 seconds remaining in the third period, Eeli Tolvanen took advantage of heavy traffic in front of Scott Wedgwood’s cage to jump on a loose ball in the slot and tie the game 3-3.

In the absence of Jake Oettinger, Wedgewood performed well as they made 35 saves. At the other end of the ice, Joey Daccord allowed four goals on 28 shots.

The Kraken have now won just two of their last 12 games. The team will try to correct things on Wednesday evening, against the strong Los Angeles Kings team.