Andre Fleury was on the bench instead of in the net for the Capitals’ final game of the regular season against the Wild. “It was a pretty good battle out there between me and him,” Ovechkin said of their decadeslong rivalry that flatters both: Fleury won his third Stanley Cup in 2017 after he and Pittsburgh eliminated Ovechkin and Washington,

Fleury plans to retire after this, his 21st NHL season, though, So unless Gustavsson doesn’t finish the game Thursday, the 40-year-old likely won’t face Ovechkin again, barring a meeting between the Wild (40-27-5) and Capitals (47-15-9) in the Stanley Cup Final this season.

Fleury, who’s in his 21st and assuredly final season in the league, was on the home bench all night while Filip Gustavsson manned the net.