Fleury nearly delivers in dramatic fashion for Wild in Game 5 OT loss

LAS VEGAS -- This was no farewell tour, no revival act, no career-closing residency to cash in on past glories, each a trademark for former headliners throughout the casinos that surround T-Mobile Arena.

For Marc-Andre Fleury this moment was everything, an opportunity to make a final statement in a brilliant, Hall of Fame career, to remind the faithful of the Vegas Golden Knights of who he was.

“I was excited, excited to have a chance to play again, this building too,” the Minnesota Wild goalie said. “A little bit of butterflies.”

It’s a feeling Fleury has loved since he broke into the League in 2003-04, the fresh-faced No. 1 pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Now 40 and in his last season, Fleury was determined to deliver when he surprisingly took the ice to start the third period in Game 5 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Vegas can be a cruel town, an extinguisher of dreams. It was on this night.

The Golden Knights won a second straight overtime game, this one 3-2, to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 series.

“It would have been perfect with a win,” Fleury said, sitting at his locker, still in his leg pads, smiling wistfully as he thought about what unfolded.

Teams with a 3-2 lead in a best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs win 79.2 percent of the time (357-94).

Fleury stopped the first six shots he faced through the third period and the first four minutes of overtime before Brett Howden scored on a bang-bang play at 4:05.

Fleury didn’t have a chance on the shot, his dream of a final glorious moment on The Strip dashed.

Game 6 is at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; FDSNNO, SCRIPPS, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).

Fleury had the unexpected chance to play when starter Filip Gustavsson was too sick to come out for the third with the Wild trailing 2-1.

Fleury had started warming up in the dressing-room area, catching some balls to get his glove hand right.

The ultimate competitor, Fleury believed he was ready for the moment, the fierce heartbeat of a competitor drumming in his ears, vying with the noise of the frenzied crowd.

“The moment is never too big for him,” said defenseman Brock Faber, who at 22 was born the year before Fleury broke into the NHL. “He gave us a chance to win this thing.”

In fact, the Wild thought they had won.

Forward Ryan Hartman scored with 1:15 remaining in the game for a 3-2 lead.

The goal survived an officials’ review for the lack of a distinct kicking motion, but it didn’t survive the Golden Knights’ challenge for offside -- forward Gustav Nyquist having entered the zone a skate blade too early.

“Obviously it’s nice to get that lead with no time left,” Fleury said, his trademark smile making the fleetest of appearances. “It was a good feeling. But, that’s OK, nobody got too low. We were playing our game and we had a chance.”

The drama of the situation was what the NHL playoffs delivers on a nightly basis.

Here was Fleury, playing for the first time in 14 days, going against his former team in a building he once owned, with the chance to deal a significant blow to the dreams of the Golden Knights and the fans who once showered him with adulation.

“I mean he is a great goaltender, a Hall of Famer for a reason,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said.

The karma of it was delicious.

Fleury is the Golden Knights franchise leader in wins for both the regular season and playoffs after being claimed by them in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

He came West as a three-time winner of the Stanley Cup with the Penguins, with a smile as bright as the lights that bathe this city 24/7, and immediately became the face of the franchise.

He was the leader of a band of castoffs and reclamation projects -- The Golden Misfits -- and backstopped them, bravely, confidently, through the most improbable run in the history of the NHL playoffs.

The first-year team made it to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Washington Capitals in five games.

Fleury was just getting started. In 2020-21, he won the Vezina Trophy as the League's top goalie for the first time.

It seemed that he had found a second hockey home in Vegas, a place to wind down his career and chase more glory.

But, as anyone who has ever come to this town can attest, good fortune can evaporate in the blink of an eye here.

It did for Fleury.

He was unceremoniously dumped, traded to the Chicago Blackhawks the offseason after claiming the Vezina. Priot to the next Trade Deadline, he was moved to the Wild, where he has partnered with Gustavsson for the past three seasons.

Now, he had a chance to make a final impression to say goodbye to Vegas in the most dramatic of fashions.

He went all-in. He didn’t hit the flop.

But the Wild are on the brink of extinction, forced to win Thursday for a winner-take-all game here in Game 7.

“By no means is this one over,” Fleury said. “A lot of belief here.”