Marc-Andre Fleury suffered injury in Wild loss to Nashville
It's unclear how long the Minnesota Wild will be without their No. 1 goalie, but Marc-Andre Fleury suffered an upper-body injury against the Nashville Predators Tuesday night and he's expected to miss time. How long?
"Don’t know. He’s being evaluated this morning," said Wild head coach Dean Evason.
Specifics about his injury haven't been revealed, and it's unclear when he got hurt because he played the entire game and made 23 saves, blanking the Predators over the final two periods after giving up two goals in the span of 44 seconds in the opening period.
Fleury has a 2.80 goals-against average and .906 save percentage this season, but over his last eight games he's been vintage with a 1.75 goals-against average and .937 save percentage. He allowed 18 goals in his first four starts and has surrendered just 14 in his past eight games.
Filip Gustavsson will take over the No. 1 goalie role while Fleury is out. He owns a 2.81 goals-against average and .918 save percentage for the season, but has stopped 89 of the last 94 shots he's faced for a .947 save percentage.
"He’s given us a chance every night that he’s been in there," Evason said of Gustavsson. "We feel very, very confident with him in the net."
Joe Smith of The Athletic reports that Zane McIntyre will be called up from the Iowa Wild to be Gustavsson's backup. McIntyre was a standout at the University of North Dakota after winning the Frank Brimsek Award as the top senior goalie in Minnesota high school hockey as a star student-athlete at Thief River Falls.
Fleury is the latest key player to be bit by the injury bug, joining Jordan Greenway, Marcus Foligno, Brandon Duhaime and Ryan Hartman. Greenway has played in just two games this season and Hartman has been out since Oct. 30 with an upper-body injury.
The Wild host the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 p.m. Thursday.
