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Fleury bids SJ adieu with 3-1 win
Netminder makes 36 saves to fend off Sharks
1/11/2025 - By Mike Lee

Marc-Andre Fleury has made it clear that he will retire at the end of this season. Barring an unlikely trade, Fleury played his last game at SAP Center on Saturday night and he stuck it to the Sharks one last time. The Minnesota Wild netminder made 36 saves to beat the Sharks 3-1, sending the Sharks to their 32nd loss in 45 games this season. San Jose made a game of it, trailing by a lone goal for most of the 3rd period until Minnesota scored what was unofficially an empty-net goal.

Sharks fans had their chance to say goodbye to Fleury, but it's unlikely that most will miss the Sharks nemesis. He has a .946 save percentage in 13 games at SAP Center, which is higher than games against the Sharks in his own barn.

He was in prime form on Saturday night, snuffing out big runs by the Sharks and calmly preserving a lead his team would not relinquish.

Minnesota would pot the only goal of the opening period 5:51 in after the Wild moved the puck up ice. Mats Zuccarello entered the Sharks zone along the left wing boards, then flipped the puck to Marco Rossi on the off wing. William Eklund elected to try and block Zuccarello's pass by diving at it, but in doing so he left Rossi unattended. The Wild forward gathered Zuccarello's feed before lifting a backhand chance over Yaroslav Askarov's left shoulder for this 16th goal of the season.

The Sharks would out-shoot the Wild 16-6 in the opening period, but Fleury turned in your run of the mill Fleury-esque performance to deny San Jose.

Even a with the man advantage following a Jake Middleton delay of game penalty, the Sharks were unable to solve the Wild netminder.

A Will Smith turnover early in the 2nd period ended up in the sharks net after Matt Boldy carried a Zuccarello feed into the Sharks zone, then used Henry Thrun to screen a shot that slipped past Askarov for his 16th goal of the season.

San Jose finally solved Fleury with 2:30 remaining in the middle frame. Macklin Celebrini drove up the right side before pumping a shot on goal. Fleury kicked Celebrini's chance back out to the slot where William Eklund was Johnny on the spot for the put back chance. Eklund would not miss, giving him his 9th goal of the season.

The game turned into a wide open shootout in the 3rd period. That opened up the ice for Celebrini to flash his skills, including his skating which mesmerized the Wild defense on more than one occasion.

San Jose threw 8 more shots at Fleury in the period, but it was his night.

San Jose tried to pull Askarov for an extra attacker late in the game, but they coughed the puck up before their goaltender could reach the bench. Zuccarello capped his big night with a goal that was technically not an empty-net tally because Askarov never reached the bench.

Game Notes:

* Nico Sturm and Carl Grundstrom came off the injured reserve and played in Saturday night's contest. Their roster spots became available after San Jose moved Nikolai Kovalenko and Klim Kostin on to the injured reserve.

* Minneosta played without their all-world forward Kirill Kaprizov, who is on the shelf with an injury.

* The Sharks completed the game without taking a penalty.

* Will Smith had a pair of suspect turnovers that earned him a benching in the 3rd period.

* The game was the 6th sellout of the season for San Jose. They are ranked 2nd to last in average attendance this season, behind only Utah whose arena seats 6,300 fewer fans than SAP Center.


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Scoring
1 2 3 T
MIN 1 1 1 3
SJ 0 1 0 1
1st period - 1, MIN, Rossi 16 (Zuccarello, Boldy), 5:51.
2nd period - 2, MIN, Boldy 16 (Zuccarello), 4:34. 3, SJ, Eklund 9 (Celebrini, Walman), 17:30.
3rd period - 4, MIN, Zuccarello 11 (Chisolm), 18:43.
Penalties
1st period - Middleton, MIN (delay of game - puck over glass), 6:03.
2nd period - None.
3rd period - Foligno, MIN (slashing), 19:10.
Goaltending
Shots Saves
MIN - Fleury 37 36
SJ - Askarov 21 18
Shots On Goal
1 2 3 T
MIN 6 9 6 21
SJ 16 13 8 37
Power Play Conversion
MIN 0 of 0
SJ 0 of 2
3 Stars of the Game
Marc-Andre Fleury
Mattt Boldy
Macklin Celebrini
Attendance
SAP Center - 17,435
Officials
Referees: #3 Chris Schlenker, #13 Furman South. Linesmen: #89 Joe Mahon, #58 Ryan Gibbons.





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