Penguins keep playoff hopes afloat with vital win against Marc-Andre Fleury, Wild

The greatest era in the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins largely began when they drafted a gangly 18-year-old goaltender named Marc-Andre Fleury in 2003.

On Thursday, that era — or at least the 16-year playoff streak it has produced — was on the line in many ways as the Penguins faced the now well-seasoned 38-year-old Fleury and his current employer, the Minnesota Wild, at PPG Paints Arena.

The Penguins rose to the challenge and perforated their former franchise goaltender, claiming a vital 4-1 victory that provided their drowning postseason aspirations a much-needed gulp of oxygen.

After Thursday’s results in the NHL, the Penguins (39-30-10, 88 points) remain on the outside looking in at the two wild card positions in the Eastern Conference. The Florida Panthers (41-31-7, 89 points) and the New York Islanders (40-30-9, 89 points) entered the day ahead of them in the standings, and both were victorious Thursday.

The Panthers routed the Ottawa Senators, 7-2, at home, and the Islanders grounded the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-1.

“We have to focus on one game at a time,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said following an optional morning skate Thursday. “We don’t want to look too far ahead. Right now you can see the mood in the (dressing) room. The guys are focused and they know how important this game is.”

Letang’s focus was in the right place as he opened the scoring 15:02 into regulation with his 11th goal of the season.

After Penguins forward Sidney Crosby beat Wild forward Frederick Gaudreau on a draw in Minnesota’s left circle, forward Jake Guentzel swept the puck to the left point for defenseman Brian Dumoulin. From there, Dumoulin offloaded the puck to the opposite point for Letang, who surged up the wall around pressure from Wild forward Marcus Foligno and elevated a wrister that toasted Fleury’s glove hand on the near side. Dumoulin and Guentzel had assists.

“(Letang) fooled me on that first one,” Fleury said. “I opened the short side. Should have stopped that one.”

Letang concurred.

“I think (Fleury) started thinking I was going to pass and I just put it there,” Letang said. “Ended up being a lucky goal.”

A power-play score at 10:53 of the second period doubled the Penguins’ lead.

With Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek hobbled after blocking a one-timer by Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin with his left leg, the Penguins took full advantage of Eriksson Ek’s impairment. As the Wild penalty killer struggled to even stand in his own zone, Letang controlled the puck at the right point, backpedaled to the center point and then slid a pass to the top of the left circle, where Rakell stroked a one-timer to the far side that rung off the goalpost and deflected into the cage for his 28th goal. Letang and Guentzel tallied assists while Eriksson Ek required assistance to leave the ice and retreat to the visiting dressing room. He did not return.

“I’m trying to shoot the puck and put myself in areas where I feel comfortable in knowing where to put the puck when I get it,” said Rakell, who has three goals in his past three games. “It’s definitely nice when they go in.”

Former Wild forward Jason Zucker put the Penguins up by a field goal 2:58 into the final frame.

Following an offensive zone entry by Rakell at the center point, he fed the puck to the left wing for Malkin. Advancing up the boards into the lower portion of the left circle, Malkin dished a seam pass to the top of the opposite circle for Zucker, who whacked a one-timer over Fleury’s left shoulder on the near side. Rakell made an acrobatic maneuver to screen Fleury without making contact on the sequence. Malkin and Rakell registered assists.

Wild forward Marcus Johansson broke up the shutout bid of goaltender Tristan Jarry with his 17th goal at 7:39 of the third period during a five-on-three power-play sequence.

Below the goal line, Johansson and Wild forward Mats Zuccarello played hot potato with the puck before Johansson ultimately tried to jam in a forehand shot from the right of the cage. After Jarry made the initial save, the rebound bounced off Dumoulin’s left skate then slid past Jarry’s right leg and across the goal line. Zuccarello and forward Matt Boldy were credited with assists.

After that, the Penguins limited the Wild to six shots.

“They were getting some momentum,” Dumoulin said. “We had to try to spend some more time in the offensive zone and just create some plays to get us out of our own zone. We did a good job of collapsing (around their own net) and we had some key blocked shots in the third period too.”

Any notion of a comeback was stamped out by Penguins forward Jeff Carter’s 13th goal at the 13:08 mark.

After making a zone entry at the center point, Dumoulin fed the puck to forward Drew O’Connor on the right wing. Allowing things to develop, O’Connor slipped a pass to the top of the crease for Carter, who tapped in a backhander. O’Connor and Dumoulin tallied assists.

Jarry made 27 saves on 28 shots as his record rose to 23-12-6.

“He made some really, really big saves for us,” Dumoulin said of Jarry. “And really eliminated their second-chance opportunities. He played the puck really well too. Helped us on our breakouts, just stopping the puck and talking to us. He had a great effort tonight. It was awesome to see. It was good to play in front of him.”

Fleury’s mark fell to 24-15-4 after he stopped 27 of 31 shots.

“I always get such a warm welcome when I get back here,” Fleury said. “It’s always a special place for me to come play. I wish I would have done better, put on a better show, give our team a chance to stay in it a bit more.”

The Penguins had a much better showing Thursday, less than 48 hours after one of their most downtrodden efforts of the season, a 5-1 road loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Little had to be said to motivate the Penguins into a rebound performance against the Wild.

“It’s one of those games where it was so bad that everyone knows,” Dumoulin said of Tuesday’s defeat. “You don’t need to say anything. You kind of look around at the room and the group and we know. We know we had to be better. We know this was a huge, important game for us.”

Notes:

• Dumoulin set a new career high with 25 points (one goal, 24 assists) in his 79 games the season. His previous high-water mark of 23 points (three goals, 20 assists) was set in 76 games during the 2018-19 season.

• Zucker (94 points) broke into the top 100 career scorers for the franchise. He is now tied for 98th place with defensemen Paul Baxter and Ulf Samuelsson as well as forward Wally Boyer.

• Zucker scored his first career goal against the team that selected him in the second round (No. 59 overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.

• Letang’s goal was his first against Fleury, who left the Penguins via the 2017 expansion draft.

“It’s getting a little bit more natural to shoot on him, but it’s still kind of weird,” Letang said. “Just weird.”

• Penguins defenseman Jan Rutta returned to the lineup after being sidelined for 10 games due to a suspected left knee injury. Logging 16:54 of ice time on 26 shifts, including 4:15 on the penalty kill, Rutta recorded one shot on one attempt and two blocked shots.

• There was a scary scene at 15:31 of the first period when O’Connor appeared to be injured on a high hit in Minnesota’s zone by Wild defenseman Matt Dumba. O’Connor released a pass and was struck late by Dumba, who received a minor penalty for interference.

O’Connor left the ice holding his jaw but returned by the start of the second period.

• The Wild remain one of three active NHL teams the Penguins have never shut out. The Seattle Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights are the others.

• Former Penguins forward Oskar Sundqvist left the game at 10:00 of the second period. There was no word on the statuses of Eriksson Ek or Sundqvist after the game.