The Wild played the Capitals tonight in Minnesota, a 4-2 win for the Wild in which Filip Gustavsson got the start and stopped 28 of 30 shots as Marc-Andre Fleury backed up. Barring a meeting in the Stanley Cup Final, this was the last time the Capitals will see Fleury after Fleury announced at the start of the season that this would be his final year playing.
The Wild celebrated their win after the final buzzer, and some Capitals players made a beeline for the exit. But Ovechkin waved his team back onto the ice to shake Fleury's hand and show their respect:
Fleury played the Capitals 47 times in the regular season in his career, going 28-14-3. The only teams he's beaten more are the Rangers (34), Flyers (33) and Islanders (29). And as Ovechkin closes in on surpassing Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record, there's no goaltender he's beaten more than Fleury, getting 28 of his goals against him.
The Penguins-Capitals rivalry in this generation was a heated one for a long time, but it evolved into one of mutual respect as its stars and the centerpieces of those battles got older. Fleury and Ovechkin were at the heart of those heated matchups for a long time, and it's really cool to see this mutual respect grow from all those years.
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THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
3:28 am - 03.28.2025Buffalo, N.Y.Ovechkin's classy gesture for Fleury
Major respect for Alex Ovechkin tonight.
The Wild played the Capitals tonight in Minnesota, a 4-2 win for the Wild in which Filip Gustavsson got the start and stopped 28 of 30 shots as Marc-Andre Fleury backed up. Barring a meeting in the Stanley Cup Final, this was the last time the Capitals will see Fleury after Fleury announced at the start of the season that this would be his final year playing.
The Wild celebrated their win after the final buzzer, and some Capitals players made a beeline for the exit. But Ovechkin waved his team back onto the ice to shake Fleury's hand and show their respect:
The Capitals players made their way back onto the ice and lined up behind their captain, and the coaching staff followed:
Fleury played the Capitals 47 times in the regular season in his career, going 28-14-3. The only teams he's beaten more are the Rangers (34), Flyers (33) and Islanders (29). And as Ovechkin closes in on surpassing Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record, there's no goaltender he's beaten more than Fleury, getting 28 of his goals against him.
The Penguins-Capitals rivalry in this generation was a heated one for a long time, but it evolved into one of mutual respect as its stars and the centerpieces of those battles got older. Fleury and Ovechkin were at the heart of those heated matchups for a long time, and it's really cool to see this mutual respect grow from all those years.
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