Now 40 years old and a pending unrestricted free agent, Minnesota Wild goalie and Quebec native Marc-Andre Fleury got the net vs. the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre for likely the last time on Thursday. He responded to the emotional circumstances surrounding his latest start in kind with a fitting 4-0 shutout. It was his sixth straight win over the Habs.
Game Recap
Not to take anything from Fleury or his 19 saves, but the Canadiens failed to generate much offense in the face of a near flawlessly executed, structured gameplan on the part of the Wild. Ironically, the biggest display of sustained offense from the Habs came from the bottom-six Josh Anderson line a few minutes into the third period. On the same whistle, Devin Shore, who’s spent more time in the American Hockey League than the NHL the last two seasons, scored the 3-0 goal to put the game out of reach, after play went the other way.
Wild forward Marco Rossi got the puck over to Shore after a failed rush on his own part. Canadiens forward Alex Newhook failed to corral it, leaving Shore all alone in the slot. He made no mistake putting it past Habs goalie Jakub Dobes, who made 23 saves in the game.
The assist was Rossi’s second point of the contest. He also scored the 2-0 goal in the second. Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj had overcommitted to covering Marcus Foligno on a two-on-one rush, leaving Rossi open for the pass and the subsequent score. Frederick Gaudreau also notched two points, including an empty-net goal at 18:33 of the final frame, after the Habs had pulled Dobes with over four minutes left to no avail.
Gaudreau’s other point was an assist on Liam Ohren’s game-opening goal 3:47 into the second period. Ohgren received the pass in front of the net having to beat just defenseman Alexandre Carrier for one-on-one access to Dobes. Carrier misplayed it, giving Ohgren enough time to find room to shoot it past the goalie for the eventual game-winning goal in Fleury’s 76th career shutout.
Losers of their last four games, the Canadiens next play the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday on the first leg of their West Coast road trip . Winners of three straight, all on the road, the Wild next visit the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.