As Marc-Andre Fleury starts off what will potentially be his final lap around the National Hockey League, the legendary goaltender is already receiving a whole lotta love.
On Tuesday night, it came from Montreal Canadiens fans as the Minnesota Wild visited the Bell Centre. Following the Wild’s 5-2 win over the Canadiens, Fleury was met with a standing ovation from a crowd that realized they were possibly witnessing the Quebec native’s last-ever start in Montreal.
Fleury declared back in September that he would make a decision about retirement at the conclusion of his 2023-24 season, his 21st NHL campaign.
“I just told myself that I would give myself this season, see how it goes, see how I feel physically, mentally, if I can still stop the puck, and just make a decision at the end,” said Fleury. “I don’t want to think about it too much, like, every game. ‘It’s going good, I’ll play again, it’s going bad, I don’t want to play anymore,’ you know what I mean? There will be ups and downs this season. I just want to get through it and make a decision at the end.”
Despite no decision being set in stone just yet, Flower will undoubtedly get his flowers as he makes his way around the league this season. And deservedly so.
“Definitely special,” the 38-year-old said post-game Tuesday. “I told myself before the season I want to enjoy every moment of it. I don’t want to have any regrets if this is it. So I think I had a lot of fun tonight. My teammates played amazing in front of me. It was a fun win.”
Fleury, a three-time Stanley Cup champion and likely Hall of Famer, has a 545-315-89 record over 986 career games (960 starts), along with a .913 save percentage and 2.58 goals-against average. He is third on the all-time wins list.
Prior to joining the Wild, he spent 13 seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins (who drafted him first overall in 2003), three seasons with the Vegas Golden Knights and one season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Fleury was awarded the game’s first star after a 27-save performance against the Canadiens Tuesday night.