Looking at the calendar, the game Thursday between the Minnesota Wild and visiting Washington Capitals at Xcel Energy Center could have been the night Alex Ovechkin made NHL history. But he came into the game still needing six goals to pass Wayne Gretzky (894 goals) for the most goals scored by a player in NHL history. So, at the very least he could have scored a goal to get a little bit closer to the milestone.

That didn’t happen either. Ovechkin was held off the scoresheet in his 1,482nd NHL game as the Wild captured a comeback 4-2 victory over the Capitals, snapping their two-game losing streak.

So, about that memorable ending?

After Freddy Gaudreau scored an empty-netter for his second goal of the night to put the game away, and the final horn sounded, the Wild congratulated their starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson on his seventh victory of March. Some of the Capitals players made their way toward the tunnel leading to the locker room. Ovechkin called them back to the ice, and the Capitals lined up near center ice to form a handshake line.

They were led by Ovechkin and waiting for one Wild player: Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Wild goaltender has been backing up Gustavsson more often these days, which is more about the hot-hand of Gustavsson and that the Wild are playing for their playoff lives. So, the Flower didn’t start and didn’t play in Thursday’s game.

“It was a little surprise there at the end. Then Bogo (Zach Bogosian) told me to look back,” Fleury said the next day after practice. “Everybody gets on and we fist bump everybody and went to go see Gus after the game. They were all lined up.

“A little surprise. Little bit… weird, I would say. I didn’t play the game, and then the whole team’s lined up. Very classy.”

Ovechkin mentioned Thursday morning that this game would mark the last time going up against Fleury, regardless of if the legendary goaltender played a minute in between the pipes. It’s been one of many memorable moments this season for Fleury, who is on a one-year contract and will likely retire from the NHL after this season.

The handshake tribute after the game was something the Capitals wanted to do, said Washington coach Spencer Carbery.

“Just paying the respects he deserves and the impressive career,” Carbery said. “He’s done so much. They’ve had so many battles. He’s had so many battles with the Caps, with ‘O’ (Ovechkin). So, pretty classy to be able to send him off and just say how impressive a career he had.”

Fleury was one of Charlie Lindgren’s favorite goalies growing up. Lindgren, the 31-year-old Lakeville North grad who made 17 saves for the Capitals in the loss Thursday, said he loved watching him play.

“The way he competed, the way he battled, just his personality,” Lindgren said. “I never had the chance to talk to him. Heck of a career.”

Wild winger Marcus Foligno also mentioned watching a bit of the Ovi-vs.-Fleury rivalry over the years before the he came into the NHL.

“That relationship is a little bit of a hate-love, but it’s one of those where you just tip your cap to the other guys and the battles that you saw in Pittsburgh and Capitals,” Foligno said.

Ovechkin thought the handshake line was a classy gesture, said Washington first-line center Dylan Strome, especially with their history as opponents.

“They played I don’t even know how many games against each other – I think I saw 47 today, not including playoffs,” Strome said. “It’s one of those things where you’ve got to respect greatness, and Fleury’s been great his whole career.

“I got the chance to play with him in Chicago, and everyone knows he’s one of the best people of all time in the game, so the little respect we can show him at the end of the game I think goes a long way and is well deserved for him.”

Yes, it’s been 47 games between the two. Ovechkin has scored 28 goals against Fleury in that time.

“We had so many battles,” Fleury said. “The Penguins, a few playoff series, even throughout the season, too, with him and Sid (Sidney Crosby). It was always a big deal. It was always a big game.

“I felt very lucky and fortunate I got to play so many games against him, compete against him. Obviously, a tough opponent.”

Fleury added that he was glad for the moment so he could tell Ovechkin it was fun playing against him, because “he’s had such a tremendous career also.”

Wild keeps giving Flower his flowers, too
The moment was special for Fleury’s Wild teammates, too. They stayed on the ice watching the handshake line unfold like the rest of the fans who stayed. Hearing players describe Fleury as “one of the best” they’ve ever played with is a common refrain this season.

“It’s special to have that when you quit hockey someday, that you played with that guy, for sure,” said Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin.

Wild coach John Hynes noted what a great teammate Fleury has been everywhere he’s played. Fleury was a Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016 and 2017. He also played with Vegas and Chicago before landing with the Wild at the 2022 trade deadline.

Fleury deserves all the accolades he’s gotten, Hynes said Thursday, adding that he’s said that same thing a couple of times in the past.

“He’s been a tremendous competitor to compete against. And obviously the quality of a human being that he is, all those things combined, I think we’re witnessing in part of a hall-of-fame player, a hall-of-fame person. That’s earned the respect not only as a player but I think as a competitor. Which is probably the best compliment you can get.”

The post Hall-Of-Fame Handshakes appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

But even us curmudgeons had to appreciate what occurred on Thursday night in the Minnesota Wild’s 4-3 shootout victory in Washington.

With Matt Boldy having scored on the Wild’s second attempt, Alexander Ovechkin took the puck on his stick at center ice and skated in on Marc-Andre Fleury.

A 39-year-old legend who was the first-overall pick by Washington in the 2004 NHL draft, bearing down on a 40-year-old goaltender who was the first-overall selection by Pittsburgh a year earlier.

Ovechkin moved right and then back to the middle of the ice before snapping off a shot that Fleury stopped with his glove to set off a celebration among Wild players.

The NHL long ago became a young man’s game, and seeing two Hall of Fame legends competing for one of the final times is a special moment. Even if it was in a shootout.

Fleury has said this will be the last season of his 21-year NHL career. He spent 13 of those seasons competing against Ovechkin with the Penguins in the Eastern Conference. Ovechkin scored a power-play goal against Fleury on Thursday night, giving him 28 regular-season goals against The Flower. That’s more than he’s scored on any goalie.

Ovechkin also had 13 goals against Fleury in the playoffs, but the Penguins were 3-0 in the postseason against the Capitals during Fleury’s time in Pittsburgh. That includes Pittsburgh’s seven-game victory in the 2009 conference semifinals en route to a Stanley Cup title.

“It’s 20 years we play against each other,” Ovechkin told reporters. “It’s always fun. It’s always a challenge. He’s one of the best goalies out there and it’s a huge challenge for me to play against him.”

There could be one more meeting between Fleury and Ovechkin, and it would be more special than the one we saw Thursday.

Ovechkin has 871 career goals, putting him 24 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s time record of 894 goals. The Capitals are scheduled to play 33 games before they face the Wild on March 27 at Xcel Energy Center.

Ovechkin scored 15 goals in his first 18 games of the season before missing 16 because of a fractured fibula, but he has three goals in four games since his return. Could Ovechkin pass Gretzky’s mark in downtown St. Paul?

Fleury probably would be OK if that’s not the case. He already has plenty of memories of Ovechkin scoring goals against him.

“I feel fortunate I was able to play in this time,” Fleury told reporters. “He probably owes me a few things for scoring so many goals on me. I helped him out pretty good. I’m glad I got to face him. He’s one of the best and always brings the best out of you. It’s been fun battles with him.”

A long road (trip)
One can forgive Wild players if they aren’t as excited as Minnesota hockey fans are about the World Junior Championships being held next winter at Xcel Energy Center.

Ottawa is currently playing host to the world juniors and that has sent the Senators on a nine-game road trip in which they are 4-3-0. The tournament started the day after Christmas and runs through Sunday. The Senators last played at the Canadian Tire Centre on Dec. 14.

The 2026 world juniors will begin on Dec. 26, 2025 and run through Jan. 5, 2026. That means that other than the NHL’s holiday break, the Wild will be on a long trip beginning in late December and extending into early January.

The Canadian Tire Centre is the primary venue, hosting a total of 18 games, while TD Place hosted 12 games during the tournament. The secondary venue in Minnesota will be 3M Arena at Mariucci, home of the Gophers men’s hockey team.

It will be the first time the world juniors will be played in Minnesota since 1982. The tournament was conducted in a round-robin format at the time and won by Canada.

The North Stars’ home building, Met Center, hosted a few games but there also were games played in Manitoba, as well as multiple Minnesota cites, including Brainerd, Burnsville, Duluth, Grand Rapids, International Falls, Mankato, New Ulm, Rochester, St. Cloud and Virginia.

That’s no longer the case because the world juniors have become big business. 

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Caufield shared that sentiment with many in the state of hockey at the time, wanting to see the 2019 NHL first-round pick Matt Boldy make his NHL debut. Caufield, who was called up and made a splash with the Canadiens in the postseason last year, was teammates with Boldy on the U-17 and U-18 U.S. National Teams.

Wild rookie winger Matt Boldy (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Boldy was a game-time decision for the Wild that night but ultimately didn’t get the nod for his first NHL game until about seven months later, and in memorable fashion. The 20-year-old got the call prior to the Wild’s game in Boston on Jan. 6, 2022, near his hometown of Milford, Mass.

It’s exciting enough playing in your first game, and in front of parents, family and friends, but Boldy added the cherry on top when he scored a goal in the second period on a pretty passing play from Marcus Foligno. Boldy raised both arms in the air in celebration before his teammates surrounded him.

“It was a surreal moment for sure, having it here with all my friends and family,” Boldy said after the game. “I think I blacked out after I scored.”

Wild defenseman and alternate captain Matt Dumba told Boldy that Jonas Brodin also had the secondary assist on Dumba’s first NHL goal, during a 5-1 victory over Dallas on Oct. 12, 2013 with the Wild.

“Just kind of crazy how that can happen so many years later,” Dumba said.

Boldy certainly left his mark on Wild and NHL history with his goal. He’s only the third Massachusetts-born player in NHL history to tally a goal in his NHL debut in Boston; he’s the first to do it while playing for the visiting team. Boldy is also the second Wild player in as many seasons to score in his debut. The other, of course, is Kirill Kaprizov who joined the league last year.

Boldy signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Wild on March 30, 2021, following his sophomore season with Boston College, where he led his team in all scoring categories last season. He scored a point in 11-of-14 games with the Iowa Wild last year, netting 6 goals and 18 points.

Scoring in his debut is nothing new. Boldy scored a power-play goal in his professional hockey debut with Iowa on April 9 last spring. He also added an assist on a goal by Calen Addison, another player who suited up for the Wild on Saturday night against the Washington Capitals at Xcel Energy Center.

Wild rookie winger Connor Dewar (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

With two of the team’s top prospects called up for NHL debuts in the same game in Boston, much of the focus was on Boldy and Marco Rossi. But it was rookie Connor Dewar that Wild coach Dean Evason praised highly for that game. Evason acknowledged that Boldy and Rossi were ready to play and make the step from Iowa to the NHL.  

“Having said that, Dewar probably had the best game of anyone,” Evason said at Friday morning’s practice.

Dewar made his NHL debut Oct. 28 in Seattle but had gone without a point in his first four NHL games, until Thursday when he registered an assist on a Nico Sturm goal.  

Boldy, Rossi and Dewar are all shining bright spots for the Wild during a time that’s been anything but a sunshine-filled stretch of the 2021-22 season for Minnesota.

A month ago, the Wild were the best team in the NHL after a 5-2 win in San Jose gave Minnesota an eight-game winning streak. It accumulated 39 points in 26 games through Dec. 9, going 19-6-1. They led the second-place St. Louis Blues by seven points in the Central Division.

Since then, the adversity train crashed into the Wild franchise with everything from a season-long losing streak to postponed games to injuries and COVID-19 protocols for key players.

The Wild followed up the winning streak with the five-game losing streak that actually went from Dec. 11 through the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Target Field (a rough 6-4 loss to the Blues).

Even when the Wild responded to break the losing string, winning 3-2 in Boston, it still left a sour taste because Kaprizov was injured with a hit into the boards from Trent Frederic that Evason repeatedly called “not a hockey play.”

Kaprizov missed at least Saturday’s game, and he wasn’t alone on the sidelines. Joel Eriksson Ek was still out after being injured in Dallas. Brodin missed the Winter Classic in COVID-19 protocols before returning to the lineup in Boston. But he was out again with an injury. Nick Bjugstad left practice earlier in the week and will be out with a long-term injury, according to Evason. No. 1 goaltender Cam Talbot was pulled in the Winter Classic because of injury. Brandon Duhaime, Jordan Greenway and Alex Goligoski all missed Saturday’s game in various stages of COVID-10 protocols. Captain Jared Spurgeon has missed the most time, sidelined with a lower-body injury.

“We all are trying to make the best of it,” Evason said. “Our group has done a tremendous job of not letting those distractions affect us as a group. We go out, we play hard, we play right. Hopefully, that’s enough to give us an opportunity to have success.” 

Wild rookie center Marco Rossi (MHM Photo / Rick Olson)

Some players might be back sooner rather than later, and with more postponed games ahead, the time could end up benefiting the Wild in the short-term as they try to get healthy players back in the lineup. Still, fresh faces are getting chances to step in and step up.

“I’ve always found that when you’ve got a depleted lineup, guys step up and that’s really when you find out a lot about your team,” Dewar said.

Saturday’s lineup against the Capitals included Boldy, Rossi, Dewar and Kyle Rau scattered on the forward lines. Addison and Dakota Mermis played on the blue line.  

None of the youngsters factored into the Wild’s goals on the scoresheet – with the first goal credited to Foligno for his 100th career tally but was really an own-goal by Washington on a delayed penalty with the goaltender pulled – but that didn’t mean they weren’t noticeable in good ways.

Boldy played more than 20 minutes, was a plus-2 with a takeaway and blocked shot. His only shot on goal came with less than five minutes left in regulation, but he wove his way through three Capitals players in the zone to drive the net and get a backhanded shot off. He also made a between-the-legs pass from behind the net to a teammate as the Wild pressured late with the extra attacker.  

Rossi had three shots on goal. So did Dewar, who showed he’s being more aggressive in taking shots and driving the net in his 11:47 on the ice.

“You praise Boldy and Marco (Rossi) for what they’ve done, and they’ve been playing great for us, smart players at a young age,” Foligno said. “Those guys want to stay here. And then you throw in, I thought Dewar played awesome tonight.

“Just all those guys are bringing it and buying in.”

The post Next Man Up appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In this fourth and last series, Phil demonstrates stick handling skills.

• Stick Handling – Housley demonstrates the need to get into good hockey position and  to transferring the weight to develop the proper technique for stickhandling
• Toe Drag – Housley demonstrates the toe to heal and heal to toe figure 8 drill to develop puck handling skills
• Puck Protection – Phil shows the proper positioning for the best way to protect the puck while under pressure
• Offensive Puck Possession – Phil describes the proper technique on driving to the net with the puck using the body to protect the puck from the defender

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In this third series, Phil demonstrates passing skills.

• Passing – Housley shows the techniques on the three basic elements with catching and receiving and the heel to toe movement of the puck on the stick to create the spin for control
• Saucer Pass – Housley demonstrates the proper technique on coming from a good hockey position transferring the weight while going heal to toe with lifting the stick to create some lift on the puck and saucer it to your teammate
• Backhand Saucer Pass – Phil demonstrates the more difficult techniques to make a saucer pass from the backhand position
• Area Pass – Housley shows the correct way to lead a player by passing to an area where your teammate will be the first to reach the puck

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In this second series, Phil demos the more advanced shooting skills.

• One-Timer – Phil demonstrates how to get into the prime wheel house position with a strong lower hand following through to the target
• Shooting Angle – Phil Housley describes the technique for changing the angle of a shot
• Indirect Shot Pass – The Shot pass or indirect pass involves the shot from the point where the shooter aims for the stick of a breaking forward to redirect the puck to the net
• Catch & Release – Housley describes the concept of a quick shot on how to catch the puck and shoot quickly by changing the position of the body, catching and releasing the shot

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The post Phil’s Skills – Series 2/4 (Shooting II) appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Minnesota Hockey Magazine is excited to bring you 4 series of exclusive on-ice training videos taken with Phil Housley.  In this first series, Phil demos basic shooting skills.

• Wrist Shot – Phil demonstrates how to perform the basic Wrist Shot
• Snap Shot – Using the same principles as the wrist shot in loading the shot-Housley demonstrates the proper technique taking a Snap Shot
• Slapshot – Phil demonstrates the proper technique for the Slap Shot
• Backhand – Phil demonstrates how to get to the prime wheel house position with a strong lower hand following through to the target

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In our final segment, Phil Housley recalls playing for the US National Teams in World Tournaments starting while still in High School and figured after competing at that level he was ready to play in the NHL.  He did just that,  never a day in the minors and playing on all the top US Teams including playing 20 years later for the US National Team in the Olympics in Salt Lake City for Herb Brooks.  Phil then talks about his induction in the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame.

The post Phil Housley – MHM Exclusive Interview (Segment 8/8) appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

Housley lists his all-time favorites with who were the favorite players, coaches and teams in his legendary career and then talks about the intensity of the Stanley Cup playoffs.   Housley is still chasing getting his name on the Cup and is hoping that now happens as a coach.  He says after an 82 game schedule and then win another 16 games to hold the Cup is the hardest championship to win in all sports.

The post Phil Housley – MHM Exclusive Interview (Segment 7/8) appeared first on Minnesota Hockey Magazine.

In this in depth interview, the 6th part of our series with Phil Housley, MinnesotaHockeyMagazine.com speaks with Housley as he recalls his NHL playing days, including the toughest places to play, the toughest teams to play, and the toughest players to play.  The interview includes Phil’s comments about what it was like to play against  Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and what made them special.  Phil also recalls playing against the great teams including the Edmonton Oilers and the toughest places to play including the old Boston Gardens.

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