COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pascal Vincent has known Marc-Andre Fleury since he was 15 years old.
“I had hair back then,” Vincent joked.
On the recommendation of chief scout Yanick Lemay, Vincent, then general manager and coach of the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, chose Fleury in the first round of the QMJHL draft, but the plan was to move him back to the midget range by the time he turned 16 was Fleury's first time away from home, Cape Breton was 14 hours from Montreal and it was an English-speaking city for a French Canadian who spoke little English, so despite his trademark smile at the time he was shy and homesick.
“I thought, 'We have to send him back,' but we couldn't,” Vincent remembers. “He was just the best out there in every practice and we had to keep him. And we kept him. And he just took off.”
Twenty years after Vincent's Screaming Eagles made Fleury the No. 1 pick in the NHL, Fleury tied his childhood idol Patrick Roy for the second-most regular season victories in NHL history, second only to his junior coach from 2000 to 2004 opposite bench.
Honestly, what are the chances of that happening?
Marco Rossi's first career overtime winner after Marcus Johansson forced overtime with 1:31 left gave the Minnesota Wild a dramatic 4-3 victory over Vincent's Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. And to say that Vincent was proud to see a classic “Flower” performance in his 551st career win is an understatement.
Fleury loves to make his starts fun and entertaining, and that was the case for him as he ran back into the goal crease to try to stop Justin Danforth's attempt into the empty net (Danforth missed the goal) with 12 seconds left Ryan Hartman Johansson's squeal was prepared by Daniil Tarasov. And in overtime, just 16 seconds before Matt Boldy's game-winning goal against Rossi, Fleury made a spectacular glove save to save Yegor Chinakhov.
As Boldy said, “If he doesn’t make that save, it’s game over.”
And as Vincent told The Athletic in a hallway after the game, reuniting with the goalkeeper he once coached as a teenager: “When he made that save in overtime, I was like, 'Okay, Flower.' Just take it.' He is the best.”
Vincent can talk about Fleury for hours.
“He’s going straight to the Hall of Fame,” Vincent said. “Aside from the hockey team, he’s just a great person who comes from a great family. I’m really happy for him.”
After tying Patrick Roy for the second-most regular season wins in NHL history, Marc-Andre Fleury is reunited with his old Cape Breton coach, Pascal Vincent of the Blue Jackets. (Michael Russo/The Athletic)
It comes as no surprise to Vincent that Fleury is only the fourth goaltender in NHL history to play more than 1,000 games and will soon trail only Martin Brodeur for the most wins in league history. Vincent learned about Fleury's competitiveness as a 16-year-old.
“I’ll pull him for one game,” Vincent said. “I can’t remember why, whether it was the team or him. Back then we didn't have the technology we have today, so the (backup goalie) on the bench had to record some stats as well as the shots and the locations of the shots. So I pulled it, I can't remember if it was the second (or third) third.
“Anyway… after the game I looked at the sheet and there was nothing on the sheet. And that is his job. He's been withdrawn, but you still have to do your job on the bench. He wrote something like, “I'm not a statistician, I'm a goalkeeper.” And I was angry, but I loved it. It told me a lot about his character. He wanted to be a goalkeeper. He was angry that he hadn't stayed online. And we had a tough conversation.”
Fleury looks back on those days with fondness and knows how special it is that the person who looked after him as a child was able to be part of this special evening, even if it meant defeat for the young team he leads.
“When I went to Cape Breton I was about 15, 16. I was a long way from home. It was all English,” Fleury said. “I was a little French child who missed home and spoke French. And between (Vincent's) French and my stay it was also very good for me, I think it improved my time there and prepared me to be a professional. Very friendly man and a good trainer.”
In a game in which Boldy scored two goals and an assist and Brock Faber added three assists, Boldy set up Rossi's one-time winning goal just off the post. When Rossi realized he had scored, he pointed at Fleury and then headed straight to center ice as his teammates streamed in from the bench so they could all meet Fleury.
“Everything he’s done so far is just incredible,” Rossi said. “You want to cheer him on.”
Faber stared at Fleury with a smile on his face in the celebratory postgame locker room as he spoke to reporters.
“He's one of the greatest hockey players to ever play the game, but you would never know that if you didn't know who he was,” Faber said. “He is an absolute leader on this team and one of the best teammates I have ever had. It's really surreal. It doesn't feel entirely real to me just looking at him because I know I was watching this guy when I was 12, 13, 14 and starting to really get into hockey. It's crazy. Surreal.”
Growing up a die-hard Canadian, Fleury idolized Roy, particularly his butterfly style, which he tried to emulate. He called it an honor to tie Saint Patrick in the regular season W's.
But Fleury said: “At the moment I was happy to get the win with the boys.”
Fleury stopped 25 of 28 shots in a game in which Columbus attempted 67 shots. But the Wild fought exhausted in a game they desperately wanted to win to snap a four-game skid and get into a matchup with division rival the Dallas Stars.
Wild players blocked 26 shots, five each from Faber and Jake Middleton.
And they survived after Cole Sillinger completed a hat trick with 5:45 left in regulation after Jon Merrill received a tripping penalty. It was the third time that Sillinger scored a lead. Boldy answered two of his seven shots, giving him 12 goals in his last 19 games.
“We played so well that I thought we had a lot of chances with the puck from start to finish tonight,” Fleury said. “Special teams was good. Obviously they scored the third goal when there wasn't much game time left, so again it's a bit frustrating. But I love how the boys fought until the end.”
Fleury joked about the “little scare” he and the team faced when Danforth flew over the right wing with Faber in the tail and Fleury dived through the crease. Fleury didn't get any part of the puck, but there's no doubt that Faber's anger and Fleury's sudden appearance led Danforth to push the potential 4-2 goal to the left. A few moments later it was 3-3 thanks to the combination of Hartman and Johansson.
“From my perspective, I thought they would score,” Johansson said. “Sometimes you need those happy moments and we've been working hard on that lately so it was good to get these two points.
“I mean … that (glove) parade (Fleury) did it at the end, fun to watch and a good way for him to secure second place.”
“It was a big chain of events,” coach John Hynes added.
One of the coolest parts of the game was seeing Boldy and Rossi's rebounds after subpar games on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Neither of them had a chance. Everyone had one shot attempt. Part of the development process for young players is learning how to tune out bad plays and move on to the next one.
Boldy had 3 points and 11 shot attempts. Rossi had the game-winner, saved a goal in the third period when Fleury was caught outside the net, and made the play to ease the transition to overtime before his goal.
“We have a lot of older people here who are leaders and always refer to us as young people,” Rossi said. “Things don’t always go the way you want. There are always ups and downs and how you deal with the downs is important.”
Then Rossi looked back at Fleury and smiled broadly.
“Look at this guy,” Rossi said, before bringing up the fact that teammate Brandon Duhaime joked last month that it was impressive what the 39-year-old Fleury is doing at 50 years old. “I know Dewey says he's 50, but he looks 25 to me.”
Boldy added: “He still has it, no matter what Duhaime says. He definitely still has it.”
He certainly showed that during the Chinakhov theft, which caused the youth to shake his head and smile in disbelief.
“I love doing parades like this, they’re fun,” Fleury said. “I still feel a bit like a child. … Just a fun hockey game.”
Fleury has had to talk about passing Roy since training camp. He can't wait to get out of the hunt for second place in NHL wins.
Maybe that can happen on Monday night in St. Paul against Dallas.
“We’ve lost a few recently too, so it’s a question every day,” Fleury said. “Yeah, it would be nice to get another one.”
(Top photo: Aaron Doster / USA Today)