(St. Paul, Minnesota) Marcus Foligno knows Marc-André Fleury well, it seems.
On October 17, in the moments following the Minnesota Wild’s victory at the Bell Center, Fleury was giving an interview to RDS when Foligno came out from behind to cover his face with beard cream.
A few minutes later in the locker room, Foligno had no illusions. “I’m screwed for the rest of the season,” said the veteran.
He considered himself a dead man – figuratively speaking, of course – because Fleury is known for his bad moves. And as it turns out…
“Two weeks later, it was our Halloween party,” Foligno said after Wild practice Thursday morning. We leave, my wife drives and it snows that evening. We arrive at the car and it is completely covered in toilet paper. And since it was wet, the paper stuck everywhere! Obviously, Flower was nowhere to be found, he had left 10 minutes before me. »
Foligno therefore tasted the methods of hockey’s most famous prankster. And he is convinced that he is not the last. “Brandon Duhaime is next. In his intermission interview of Tuesday’s game, he said Flower is like 50 years old. He is sure to be his next target! »
Contagious good humor
John Hynes may not be the most popular coach among Fleury fans. Earlier this week, the Wild’s new head coach assigned Filip Gustavsson to face the Penguins, in what may very well have been Fleury’s final visit to Pittsburgh as an active player.
Then, on Thursday, we learned that this same Gustavsson will face the Habs in the evening, depriving Fleury of a possible last opportunity to play against his childhood team.
If Fleury was demoralized, nothing showed in training. He moved with his usual enthusiasm, struggling to stop each puck. At the very start of the session, Fleury and Gustavsson took turns facing shots from Duhaime. When it was Gustavsson’s turn, Fleury watched everything closely, then on Duhaime’s last shot, the Sorelois threw his stick to make him miss his shot. Was this the famous revenge that Foligno spoke of? Who knows.
“As soon as he can tease us, by throwing pucks at our skates, throwing a stick or giving us little jabs, he always does it,” confirms Duhaime.
Fleury visibly does not change, even if his reality has changed. Gustavsson will graduate on Thursdaye start of the season, almost double that of Fleury (11). Excluding his first season in the NHL, when he was 18, Fleury has always gotten the majority of his teams’ starts when he was healthy, with the sole exception of the 2016-2017 campaign, his last in Pittsburgh, when Matt Murray took his job away from him.
So heartbreaking decisions like that of Monday or that of Thursday, there will be a few. “It sure would have been fun to play perhaps one last time in Pittsburgh,” Fleury admitted in an interview with Quebec journalists on Thursday noon. But it’s still a maybe. It’s hockey, the coach said I was starting the next game and I was happy to play in Boston. I didn’t make a big deal out of it. »
Fleury is 39 years old and his contract expires at the end of the season. It is normal that his future is a source of intrigue. His 40-save performance against the powerful Bruins on Tuesday, however, served as a reminder that he still has gas in the tank, even if his statistics (5-5-2, 3.26 GAA, .892 efficiency) are not at their usual level.
“I can’t believe it’s his last year,” said teammate Duhaime. I don’t know what he said to the media. But look how he played last game. I can’t imagine him stopping. »
3 matches from the 1000 plateau, 2 victories from Patrick Roy’s 551 at 2e rank, Fleury will remain in the news in the coming weeks. But he does not want to comment on his future beyond this season. However, he recognizes that the travel, the day after a match, “going to bed at 3 a.m.” is sometimes difficult.
In the meantime, he still has pleasure. “It’s one of the things I’m going to miss the most. Former players often say it, it’s the spirit of the locker room that you miss. It’s fun, coming to the arena every morning, having a good gang of guys, good chemistry. When you win, it’s even easier. »