Frederick Gaudreau scored two goals and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves against their former team, lifting the visiting Minnesota Wild to a 5-3 victory over the reeling Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.
Gaudreau played in 19 games with the Penguins during the 2020-21 season while Fleury competed presumably in his last trip to Pittsburgh, where he spent his first 13 NHL seasons after the Penguins selected him with the top overall pick of the 2003 draft. Fleury, 39, announced that he is retiring at the end of the season.
A three-time Stanley Cup champion with the Penguins, Fleury was cheered for by the fans at PPG Paints Arena after being named the first star of the game.
Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov scored into an empty net and notched a pair of assists to extend his multi-point streak to a franchise-high-tying six games. Mats Zuccarello also recorded multi-point performances in six straight games in 2021-22.
Jakub Lauko and Zuccarello also scored, and Wild captain Jared Spurgeon finished with a plus-two rating in his return from a six-game absence due to a lower-body injury.
Pittsburgh’s Rickard Rakell scored two goals, Valtteri Puustinen also scored and Sidney Crosby notched three assists. Joel Blomqvist turned aside 34 shots for the Penguins, who have lost six in a row (0-5-1).
Rakell’s turnaround shot from the slot gave Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead with 4:29 remaining in the first period before Minnesota responded with a flourish.
Lauko’s sharp-angle shot from just inside the goal line slipped past Blomqvist to halve the deficit at 17:03 before Gaudreau chipped the puck under the crossbar to forge a 2-2 tie.
The Wild took advantage of a Penguins turnover in the offensive end, resulting in Gaudreau coming off the bench for a partial breakaway. Gaudreau skated in and beat Blomqvist inside the right post for his second goal of the game at 1:38 of the second period.
Kaprizov collected the puck in the right circle and alertly found Zuccarello at the back post for an easy conversion. Zuccarello’s fifth goal of the season gave Minnesota a 4-2 lead with 37 seconds remaining in the second period.
Rakell’s deflection in front of the net resulted in his sixth goal of the season at 3:36 of the third period, but Pittsburgh failed to net the equalizer.
