ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Penguins said au revoir to Marc-Andre Fleury on Sunday.

Will they say goodbye to Tristan Jarry after the season? That's anybody's guess. But the struggling goaltender, making his first NHL start in almost two months, outdueled the Penguins legend in a 3-1 victory against the banged-up but likely playoff-bound Minnesota Wild on Sunday.

Jarry stopped 29 of 30 shots and looked positionally perfect, far better than he has all season, in silencing the Wild most of the afternoon. Ryan Hartman's goal on a power-play odd-man rush with 5:06 remaining in the third period was the only offering to beat Jarry.

"Good for him," Fleury said. "Jars played great."

Fleury wasn't so bad, either. He stopped 19 of 21 shots and was a victim of his team's inability to score more than anything else.

Of course, those two goals he allowed came against a couple of notable teammates.

Evgeni Malkin scored the game's first goal in the second, knocking a shot underneath Fleury's pads from in tight. In the third period, Crosby scored the game-winner. The Penguins captain later added an empty-net goal. Crosby has scored three goals in five career games against Fleury.

Crosby, who missed two games last month with an injury, has 21 goals and 68 points in 64 games. He needs 12 points in the Penguins' final 16 games to set an NHL record by producing a point per game or more in 20 consecutive seasons.

"Oh my God," Fleury said. "Anyone but these two. I feel like I'm going to hear about this for a long time. Sid is still talking about his goal in junior against me. Lucky, too. Missed the shot. Hit Faber's stick. Are you kidding me?"

Crosby wasn't apologizing and is clearly keeping track of how many times he's beaten Fleury.

"I think I've got three on him," he said. "I think that was my third one. I had one on him in Vegas when he was there. One here I think last year. And then that was my third one. Yeah, but to get one there in the last game against him, I will remind him of that many times."

Historically speaking, the game will be remembered because it was Fleury's last against the team he won the Stanley Cup with on three occasions.

And yet, somewhat remarkably, Jarry was the story of this game.

"Give him credit," Fleury said. "He was really good."

Jarry was jettisoned to Wilkes-Barre in January for the second time this season, his work largely being disastrous. He was recalled from Wilkes-Barre not because he was playing particularly well there -- he gave up 13 goals in his final three AHL outings -- but because Joel Blomqvist was playing so poorly at the NHL level.

Jarry responded impressively on Sunday.

"So thrilled for him," Mike Sullivan said. "This has been a tough road for him. I thought he was terrific all game long. He was big in the net. He looked confident. That's what he's capable of. He's a solid NHL goaltender when he plays up to his capabilities. I was thrilled for him.

"Obviously this year hasn't gone the way that any of us would have wanted, but him in particular. I thought this was a huge step in the right direction for him, given an opportunity to get a fresh start here. This was a great start for him."

Jarry looked poised and comfortable throughout the afternoon.

"Obviously it felt really good," he said. "It was nice to come back with a game like that. I think that really helped, confidence wise."

Jarry admitted to feeling some anxiety before the game but clearly handled it well.

"You're nervous," he said. "You have those nerves. You have that excitement. Anybody would. Having that feeling, using that feeling in a good way, it brings a lot of energy to my game."

* I think Jarry deserves the highest of marks for the way he performed in this game.

The Penguins have very much been in a tailspin since the 4 Nations Face-Off break and their performance two days earlier in Las Vegas was especially abysmal. Expectations for the team and for Jarry couldn't possibly have been high in the minds of most objective observers.

Jarry was very sharp. The numbers tell you one thing, but the eye test tells you another. I loved how calm he looked in the net, and he also was positioned pretty aggressively, challenging shooters throughout.

I'll caution you that it's only one game, and that Minnesota's offense doesn't possess much firepower these days. But I also don't want that to diminish what Jarry did in this game. His form was outstanding and he earned another start on Tuesday against Vegas, as far as I'm concerned.

* I had a long chat with Fleury following the game. One of my favorite things about him is how competitive he is after all these years.

The Flower sat at his locker with his head down for a good 30 seconds before noticing that someone was standing beside him.

"Oh, hi," he said. "Sorry. Just pissed. You know, I hate to lose."

Indeed he does. Fleury is having a really good season in what will be his final NHL campaign. Seeing him on the ice playing against Crosby and Malkin, in 2025, is really something if you think about it.

"Love those guys," he said with a smile.

* I have some advice for the good people of Fenway Sports Group, who own the Penguins: Retire No. 29. Let it hang in the rafters forever.

The Penguins aren't big on retiring numbers. They've only done it three times, once because a player (Michel Briere) died, and the other two because they didn't really have much choice with Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr.

Crosby and Malkin will someday have their respective numbers hanging from the rafters.

Fleury deserves the honor, too.

He has the second-most wins in NHL history, the most wins in Penguins history, and won the Stanley Cup three times as a member of the Penguins. He remains beloved in the Pittsburgh community. He's the greatest goalie in franchise history and one of the greatest goalies in NHL history. He's a franchise icon. He might be the greatest teammate in franchise history, too.

I don't think this needs to be spelled out. I don't normally care about things like numbers being retired, but I often receive questions about Fleury's candidacy when I do mailbags. This isn't even a debate.

* Before the game, Fleury appeared to ram Malkin in a rather sensitive area with his glove.

This was pretty funny.

Fleury, of course, wasn't amused by getting beaten by Malkin.

* I expect Crosby to get to 80 points. In fact, he'll probably do it comfortably.

He added a rather stylish, one-handed empty-netter.

It's funny how great players can make empty-net goals look so much more impressive.

* It was a rough game for officials in both directions. Just some comically missed calls.

* I really liked Conor Timmins' game. The new Penguins defenseman only played 11:49, but he was nonetheless impressive. He was poised, threw a team-high four hits and just did everything at a pretty high level. I've always liked him.

He can be a very good third-pairing defenseman, in my opinion. To get him and Connor Dewar for almost nothing was very good work by Kyle Dubas. Dewar was perfectly solid in his Pittsburgh debut also.

* The Penguins don't always play smart, but they almost always play hard.

This game served as yet another example of that. They looked every bit as desperate to win this game as the Wild, and Minnesota is the team battling for a playoff spot.

* I like what Minnesota has done this season, but even with a healthy roster, it's hard for me to envision them winning a playoff series in the nasty Western Conference. Just not enough upper-echelon talent on this team.

* The Penguins finally head home and while there isn't much in the way of positivity to throw in their direction, the victory should help them feel a little bit better about themselves. It was a hard-earned two points.