“He deserves it” – Marc-Andre Fleury backs long-time rival Alex Ovechkin in quest to break Wayne Gretzky record

Tuesday’s game between Washington Capital and Minnesota Wild took Marc-Andre Fleury down memory lane, as he discusses his longtime rivalry with Alex Ovechkin. Unlike games where he used to block Ovie’s attacks, this time as a viewer he enjoyed watching someone else in his position.

Filip Gustavsson played against Ovechkin as he stopped 3 of his shots out of 34 saves. Fleury cheered on him as he enjoyed watching Ovie being held back from closing Wayne Gretzky’s record. In Wilds’ 4-2 victory at Capital One Arena, Fleury reminiscences how he stopped ‘The Great Eight’s goals who scored 25 out of 810 against his longtime foe.

Grinning, Fleury said, “I don’t know if I’m too proud of that”. “I like being here”. “The atmosphere is always good, and facing him is, obviously, a big challenge. You want to stop him.”

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Marc-Andre Fleury reminiscences rivalry with Alex Ovechkin

After so many faceoffs between Alex Ovechkin and Marc-Andre Fleury, the goalie felt weird watching him on the ice as a spectator. The Vezina Trophy winner who is a long-time friend to ‘The Next One’ Sidney Crosby stated that he would like to support Ovie in his race to cross Wayne Gretzky.

The reason being, “I think he deserves it”. “He’s been doing this for a long time and consistently every season, so hopefully he gets to Gretzky.” “He’s never slowed down”. “He doesn’t miss games. Every season, he’s consistent scoring goals and his shot is still amazing. He can shoot that one-timer so hard.”

Fleury having played against him for so long is not fazed by his accomplishments. Even though it’s his 18th NHL season, Ovie has shown great energy with no stopping. Against Ovie and Capitals, Fleury has made an impressive record of 534 wins with a 26-14-2 score, a 2.65 GAA, a .911 save percentage, and 4 shutouts.

Though they are rivals, they do enjoy the small chats between games, as Fleury shared, “Sometimes he’ll come and say ‘Hi'”. “He’ll say ‘Hi’ or ‘Oh, I almost got you. I’m going to get you on the next one.’ And I’m like, ‘No way. You’re not getting [anything].’ It’s funny, though. I like how he does it.”

Even though they are friends cum rivals, Fluery gave up on the idea of joining forces with ‘The Great Eight’. He was given an option to join the Capitals when his contract was almost over with Blackhawks. Instead, he passed on the opportunity, signing a $7 million 2-year deal with the Wilds instead.

Regarding his decision, he said, “I wouldn’t say I wasn’t interested”. “From what I’ve heard, they have a great organization. They have a lot of good players, a lot of talent, a good city and all that. But, I don’t know. To me, it was just weird because, I don’t know, they were like the enemy for so long.”

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