The Golden Knights and Marc-Andre Fleury participated in 11 handshake lines together during the goaltender’s four years with the organization.
They’re about to do so on opposite sides for the first time.
The Knights will take on Fleury and the Minnesota Wild in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The best-of-seven series will begin at 7 p.m. Sunday at T-Mobile Arena.
The games could be the final ones of the future Hall of Fame goaltender’s career. Fleury, who has the second-most wins in NHL history with 575, is expected to retire after the season.
The Knights (50-22-10), despite all the good times they had with their former teammate, hope he hangs up his skates soon. The Pacific Division champions are significant favorites over the Wild (45-30-7), the top wild-card team in the Western Conference.
Minnesota, expected to start goaltender Filip Gustavsson in net throughout the series, displayed impressive resiliency to earn its playoff spot. But it will need a lot of things to go right to pull off the upset.
Here’s a breakdown of how the two teams match up:
Forwards
The Wild are led by a superstar in left wing Kirill Kaprizov, who had 56 points in 41 games despite being limited with a lower-body injury.
Minnesota, outside of two-way center Joel Eriksson Ek and youngsters Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi, doesn’t have many other threats. The Wild scored 2.74 goals per game this season, which ranked 25th in the NHL and last among playoff teams.
The Knights, on the other hand, are the rare club with star power and depth. They finished fifth in the league in scoring thanks to a balanced attack led by center Jack Eichel, captain Mark Stone and right wing Pavel Dorofeyev, who had a breakout season with 35 goals.
Advantage: Knights
Defensemen
The Wild allowed the eighth-fewest five-on-five goals in the NHL behind a solid blue line, which was led by the shutdown pair of Jonas Brodin and Brock Faber.
Minnesota could also get a shot in the arm at some point if it decides to throw 19-year-old Zeev Buium, the 12th overall pick at last year’s draft at Sphere, into the lineup. Buium signed with the Wild on Sunday after being a finalist for the Hobey Baker award for the best player in college hockey.
The Knights’ group has the edge in experience and depth, however.
Shea Theodore scored 57 points in 67 games and could have received serious Norris Trophy consideration if he didn’t break his wrist in the 4 Nations Face-Off. Alex Pietrangelo, Brayden McNabb, Zach Whitecloud and Nic Hague also remain from the Knights’ Stanley Cup-winning team, while Noah Hanifin had 39 points in 80 games in his first full season with the organization.
Advantage: Knights
Goaltending
Adin Hill’s regular-season numbers don’t jump off the page — a career-high 50 starts with a .906 save percentage and 2.47 goals-against average — but he’s proven he can elevate his game in the playoffs.
He has a .932 save percentage in 19 postseason appearances and was the Knights’ starter when they won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
Gustavsson posted a .914 save percentage and 2.56 goals-against average in 58 starts, but he appeared to fade down the stretch. He started 21 of the Wild’s final 26 games with their playoff hopes at stake.
Advantage: Knights
Special teams
This is about as clear-cut as things can get.
The Knights finished with the NHL’s second-best power play (28.3 percent), while the Wild had the league’s third-worst penalty kill (72.4 percent). Minnesota needs to stay out of the box to give itself a chance.
The Knights’ penalty kill is one of the team’s few weaknesses (26th in the NHL at 75.7 percent), but it’s going to be hard for the Wild to take advantage. Their power play was the league’s 20th best (20.9 percent). Plus, the Knights were called for the fewest penalties in the NHL.
Advantage: Knights
Contact Ben Gotz at [email protected]. Follow @BenSGotz on X.
