Final game in Pittsburgh will be a special night for Marc-Andre Fleury
Marc-Andre Fleury is gearing up for his final game in Pittsburgh, as his Minnesota Wild visit the PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday to take on the Penguins. Fleury spent the first 13 seasons of his hall-of-fame worthy career with the Penguins and there’s no doubt his last visit is going to be an emotional evening for the beloved goaltender.
Fleury, who turns 40 years old in November, has indicated that the 2024-25 season will be his last. So far this season, Fleury’s appeared in two games with the Wild, recording a .900 save percentage and 2.89 goals against average. He’s become a mentor to now starter Filip Gustavsson, who is off to a blazing hot start for Minnesota.
In Pittsburgh, Fleury appeared in 691 games throughout his 13 seasons, posted a record of 375-216-68, won three Stanley Cups, and could very well have his jersey retired at some point down the road. Simply put, he’s a Penguins’ legend and don’t expect to see a dry eye throughout the Pittsburgh crowd on Tuesday night.
On today’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli discussed the big night ahead for Fleury and what he meant to the Penguins’ organization.
Yaremchuk: Marc-Andre Fleury will play his final game in Pittsburgh. He played there for 13 seasons, I went and did the math and I think this is correct, he played 374 home regular season games as a Penguin, 59 home playoff games, and four times so far as a visitor. So that’s 437 games in Pittsburgh in his career, tonight is 438 and the final time, Frank, that Fleury will be in Pittsburgh. They put together a nice video, kind of his best pranks ever, which I thought was nice.
Seravalli: What a special individual, and to give you an idea of how special, I did the Blackhawks game the other day with Chris Kunitz on the panel and obviously a long-time Pittsburgh Penguin, four-time Stanley Cup champ and he goes – ‘all the guys are already calling me and trying to get me to go back to Pittsburgh for dinner with Flower before the game’. Everyone’s getting together, teammates from all different eras, lots of different spans as a Pittsburgh Penguin, and lots of different teammates.
Just a revered teammate, so well liked and you see some of these pranks and they’re just unbelievable. The last time in Pittsburgh, it brings a little bit of a tear to your eye I think, in terms of what he’s meant to that city. I still think about his departure and how that went. How tough it was in back-to-back Stanley Cup runs, and Matt Murray being the guy and the way it ended wasn’t great, and the way it ended in Vegas wasn’t great either. Just one of the all-time human beings in the NHL.
For more on the big night ahead in Pittsburgh, Connor McDavid’s injury, and the latest buzz from around the NHL, watch the full episode here.