Greatest Moments of NHL Season … So Far: first round, matchup 15

The 2019-20 NHL season had many incredible moments before it paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, and now fans can decide which one was the best.

The Greatest Moments of the NHL season … So Far have been placed into a bracket of 64 entries, and fans will vote on one matchup per day, ultimately deciding the greatest moment up until this point.

Fans can vote on Twitter and Instagram each day from noon until 10 a.m. ET the next day. Each day, the winner of that matchup will be revealed, and a new set of moments will go head-to-head.

Though fans will have the ultimate say, two NHL.com staff members will weigh in on the matchup each day to give his or her opinion on which one should advance to the next round.

In the matchup Monday, defenseman Jay Bouwmeester getting a rousing ovation from the St. Louis Blues fans in his first appearance at Enterprise Center following his cardiac incident defeated the welcome Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski received from San Jose Sharks fans upon his return to SAP Center.

The matchup Tuesday has Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury reaching fifth place on the NHL wins list going against San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton scoring his 1,500th point in the NHL.

Nick Cotsonika, columnist

When Fleury earned his 460th win, he joined elite company. Four goalies in NHL history have more wins than he does: Martin Brodeur (691), Patrick Roy (551), Roberto Luongo (489) and Ed Belfour (484). Any time you do something only four other people have done, that's pretty awesome. Remember, too, that the Pittsburgh Penguins selected Fleury with the No. 1 pick in the 2003 NHL Draft after finishing 29th in the NHL in 2002-03, and the Golden Knights selected Fleury in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft as one of the original "Golden Misfits." Fleury won 375 games with Pittsburgh and 91 with Vegas, helping to build two contenders from scratch, to reach the milestone.

Adam Kimelman, deputy managing editor

When Thornton got his 1,500th NHL point, against the Calgary Flames on Feb. 4, he became the 14th player to reach that milestone. How big a deal is that? Of the 13 other players to hit that number, 12 are in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Jaromir Jagr will get there if and when he stops playing. One more note on how rare it is for a player to reach 1,500 points: Of the 7,192 skaters to play in at least one game in the history of the NHL, 0.2 percent have reached that milestone. With the advent of the shootout, wins have become easier to get. Goalies are better now than ever and harder to score on, so for me, 1,500 points is a remarkable achievement.