Kaprizov scores, Wild beat Penguins 3-2 as Fleury makes 32 saves on night he's honored
Kirill Kaprizov scored the tiebreaking goal midway through the third period and Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves as the Minnesota Wild beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 Friday night.
Matt Boldy and Jonas Brodin also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of seven.
Fleury, who earned his 553rd career win, was honored in a pregame ceremony nearly a month after passing Patrick Roy (551) for second place in NHL history. He trails only Martin Brodeur, who has 691 wins.
With the team that drafted Fleury first overall in 2003 and where he won three Stanley Cups looking on, including former teammates still in Pittsburgh, the Wild honored Fleury with a video tribute and the goalie was given a silver, engraved stick noting his topping 1,000 games played, a $5,000 donation to a charity of Fleury's choice and a souvenir mask with each of the four teams he played on.
Reilly Smith and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins, and Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.
With all eyes on Fleury and the fans providing several "Fleury" chants, he held strong back in net for the first time in five games after being sidelined by an upper-body injury.
Boldy had the lone goal in the first period, scoring his 17th of the season — a power-play goal with 7:03 remaining.
Smith, in his second game back after missing time with an upper-body injury, scored his ninth of the season at 2:54 of the second to tie it. It was Smith's first goal since Dec. 18, a span of 11 games.
Brodin scored his second of the year at 6:12. With Pittsburgh's Bryan Rust and Kaprizov in the penalty box for matching unsportsmanlike penalties, Brodin took advantage of the extra ice on a 4-on-4 to score a spinning goal right in front of the net.
Crosby, who earlier in the day gifted a painting to Fleury, scored 1:01 into the third, deflecting a point shot from Erik Karlsson into an open net on the side of Fleury to tie it again.
Kaprizov's game-winner at 9:34 of the third was ruled good after an extended replay in which Pittsburgh tried to rule that the puck had left the ice before the score.
UP NEXT
Penguins: At Winnipeg on Saturday night to finish a back-to-back set.
Wild: At Vegas on Monday night.
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