DALLAS – Out of the corner of his eye, Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury spotted teammate Frederick Gaudreau.
Wild beat Dallas in overtime; goalie Marc-Andre Fleury assists Frederick Gaudreau on team-record goal
Gaudreau took a long pass from Fleury and buried it into the Stars net 1 minute, 40 seconds into overtime to give Minnesota the win.
April 15, 2022 at 4:23PM
Instead of going for a line change as the puck rolled into Wild territory, Gaudreau hung back behind the play — what ended up being the perfect location to accept a pass from Fleury.
"I guess it was a French sense," Fleury said.
After the netminder aggressively and astutely left his crease to whack away a throw by the Stars that clipped Kevin Fiala's skate into the zone, Fleury set up Gaudreau for an equally impressive finish: a rising shot past a pair of Dallas players that sealed a 3-2 overtime win for the Wild on Thursday in front of 18,110 at American Airlines Center, giving the team its third straight victory.
This result kept the Wild in second place in the Central Division with nine games left in the regular season, its 98 points tied with the Blues. But the Wild is ahead for now because it has played one less game.
"It happens fast, but I kind of sensed that [Fleury] was looking up and his whole body was kind of looking like he was coming to me," Gaudreau said. "So I decided to take the chance and stay there."
Gaudreau's first career overtime goal 1 minute, 40 seconds into the extra session capped a three-point effort, which matched his career high. Fiala also had three points after scoring twice on feeds from Gaudreau, and Fleury made 34 saves to go along with his second assist of the season and first with the Wild to become the 11th goalie in franchise history to tally one.
Fleury has 20 helpers in his career, which is tied for first among active goalies. The 37-year-old also moved into sixth place for most saves in NHL history (24,280) and minutes played (54,087).
"His puck handling is elite," coach Dean Evason said, "and he made some great decisions and obviously a great pass at the end."
Before the Quebec natives connected in overtime, the Stars rallied twice after falling behind early.
Fiala opened the scoring 2:14 into the first period after he accepted a Gaudreau pass while crashing the net and deked the puck around Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood.
"Great hands," Evason said of Gaudreau, who has set career bests in goals (12), assists (24) and points (36). "Good speed. Good playmaker."
The goal was the Wild's 264th of the season, eclipsing the previous franchise record of 263.
That lead held until the second period, when the Stars capitalized on their first power play as Jason Robertson backhanded in his own rebound at 6:02.
Dallas blanked on its next two power plays, while the Wild didn't receive any. But the team did convert shorthanded.
Gaudreau threaded a pass to Fiala through two Stars players and Fiala skated in for a breakaway that he sent over Wedgewood 11:36 into the second period for the Wild's second shorthanded goal of the season and the first of Fiala's career. Wedgewood finished with 24 saves.
Not only is Fiala third in goals on the Wild, behind only Ryan Hartman (29) and Kirill Kaprizov (42), but he's also third in scoring with 68 points. He has seven of those points, including five goals, during a four-game point streak.
- NHL standings: Conference | Wild Card
"Kevin, you give him a pass close to the goalie and he can shake the goalie up with so many moves and he did that tonight," Gaudreau said. "It was just fun to give him the puck and see what he could do after."
As before, Dallas responded and again Robertson was behind the comeback — this time scoring 55 seconds into the third period on a shot that squeaked through Fleury.
"I wasn't happy about it," Fleury said.
But the goalie was airtight the rest of the way before orchestrating the game-winning play to improve to 5-1 since a March 21 trade from Chicago while debuting new equipment after rolling out a Wild-themed mask on Sunday.
"Just try to put it behind," said Fleury, who is only the second Wild goalie to assist on an overtime goal. "Take a deep breath [and] try to relax because I know with this team, they're just gonna keep the score close and our chance of winning is pretty good."
The Wild prevailed 5-4 on Tuesday night, moving back into first place in the NHL with a hard-fought victory in their first trip to Utah. Matt Boldy scored the winner in the shootout.
