BUFFALO, N.Y. — Marc-Andre Fleury was tearing gear off his soaking-wet body and slamming it in his equipment bag.

He kept muttering to himself in French over and over and over in between spiking to the ground his helmet, skates, chest protector and ripped-off tape.

After he met with the media, after he wore a 6-5 overtime loss by the Wild in part because of a “stupid goal” he allowed from Rasmus Dahlin during a career night from the blossoming, soon-to-be all-world Buffalo Sabres defenseman, Matt Dumba arrived at Fleury’s stall.

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The defenseman tried to console the veteran goalie, who had to be so good because of an astronomical number of defensive breakdowns in front of him against Dahlin, Hart Trophy contender Tage Thompson and the highest-scoring team in the NHL. And despite what the final score may make you think, despite the way Fleury beat himself to a pulp afterward, make no mistake, Fleury was indeed good, made a slew of tremendous stops and had no prayer on many of Buffalo’s goals.

Still, Fleury said, “Score five … should be a win every time. I feel bad for the boys.”

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE RASMUS DAHLIN 🤩#LetsGoBuffalo

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 8, 2023

Dumba rubbed the ball cap over Fleury’s despondent, slumped head. He then leaned down to whisper in his ear, clearly trying to lift his spirits.

“No, it’s on me,” Fleury snapped at Dumba. “Fifth goal. Horses—. Can’t happen. On me. So stupid. Stupid. I let you guys down.”

In the distance, Marcus Foligno, the Buffalo native and former Sabre who scored the tying goal in the third period and drew the penalty that led to Joel Eriksson Ek’s go-ahead goal, stared at Fleury with sympathetic eyes as this scene with Dumba played out.

“He takes a lot of losses to heart, but it’s definitely not on him,” Foligno said. “I mean, he made some unbelievable saves in the third, the last six minutes a lot of highlight-reel saves. We just need to be better and stronger in our slot.”

Added Ryan Hartman, who scored a goal and assist, “Some of the best players are hard on themselves, but he has nothing to be mad about. Really nothing. Everything they had were given to them by plays by us. We turned the puck over, we took penalties, we screened him, we didn’t take care of the front of our net, just gave up heavy shots over and over. Just self-inflicted by us, not Flower.”

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Sometimes we forget, but athletes are human beings and have stresses and tragedies and personal issues in their real lives that they must deal with while navigating the job they’re paid to do in front of thousands.

They’re not machines, although we expect them to be even when we’re unaware of what’s going on away from the rink.

It’s been clear by Fleury’s demeanor that he’s been dealing with a difficult situation away from the ice. Less than two hours before his start in St. Louis on New Year’s Eve, he was on the phone outside of Enterprise Center by the loading docks, and the look in his eyes made clear the news was not good.

Yet, he started against the Blues anyway and made 29 saves for his seventh win in 10 games.

Yet, even after the win, as he sat alone in a quiet, empty locker room well after the victory, it was clear Fleury was not his usually chipper self.

Maybe the plan was for Fleury to start against the Sabres all along, but he also had to feel there was no choice with Filip Gustavsson back in Minnesota trying to recuperate from a stomach bug that left him dehydrated, weak and with significant weight loss.

But on Sunday morning, Fleury will leave the team on a temporary leave.

He’ll fly home to Montreal for personal reasons and is expected to rejoin the Wild in New York City on Tuesday.

With Fleury gone, Zane McIntyre is going to have to start his first NHL game in nearly six years Sunday night against the Blues or Gustavsson will have to declare himself healthy enough to play.

Gustavsson has been sizzling hot for several weeks (8-1 in his past nine starts with a league-best 1.66 goals-against average and .941 save percentage since Nov. 19) but had to sprint off the ice late in the third period Wednesday night against Tampa Bay when he suddenly got sick. The good news is he skated Saturday in St. Paul with skating and skills coach Andy Ness on Saturday and is expected to again Sunday before it’s decided whether he can play.

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If not, he’d back up McIntyre, 30, the Grand Forks native who hasn’t played an NHL game since his lone eight games — three started — with the Boston Bruins during the 2016-17 season. He is 0-4-1 in his career with a 3.97 goals-against average and .858 save percentage and coincidentally made his NHL debut in relief at Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 25, 2016.

The Wild got off to a sleepy start in Buffalo but seemed to settle down until a broken play led to former Minnesota Mr. Hockey Casey Mittelstadt, who had three assists, gifting Victor Olofsson an easy goal.

Brandon Duhaime, playing for the first time since Nov. 23, tied the score, then Kirill Kaprizov scored his 23rd goal on a five-on-three.

kaprizov, who else?

robbed once, but not twice. 2-1 wild and they still have a powerplay!

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) January 8, 2023

But the game turned quickly when the Sabres scored three times in a 3:25 span. Thompson scored his 31st goal from his left circle power-play office after Connor Dewar’s tripping minor, Dahlin scored a gorgeous goal for the third of his eventual five points after myriad breakdowns and then Dewar’s turnover led to Dylan Cozens’ power-play goal.

NASTY curl-and-drag from Rasmus Dahlin.

Get this man into the All-Star Game.

— The Charging Buffalo (@TheChargingBUF) January 8, 2023

The Wild rallied though.

Hartman scored with 1:15 left in the second on a one-knee, backdoor tap-in after Freddy Gaudreau’s marvelous play and pass, then Foligno tied the score 26 seconds into the third off Eriksson Ek’s setup.

Ryan Hartman are you kidding

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) January 8, 2023

Finally, after the gritty Foligno made a skilled move to draw a penalty, Eriksson Ek scored with an under-the-bar snipe from the left circle for a 5-4 lead.

absolute snipe from eriksson ek and the wild have the 5-4 lead!

— Hockey Wilderness (@hockeywildernes) January 8, 2023

But the Sabres pressured hard and Fleury made a number of clutch stops to keep the Wild ahead. That’s what made Dahlin’s harmless-looking shot through him with 2:24 left in regulation so hard for him to stomach, although even on that, coach Dean Evason threw the fourth line — that was having a tough night — onto the ice late and got burned when Ryan Reaves got drawn into the middle and away from Dahlin.

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“I loved that third period,” Fleury said. “We came back, scored some big goals, got the lead. That was huge. I give the stupid goal at the end, the fifth one, and they’re back in the game.”

Overtime was entertaining with chances on both sides, and Evason was frustrated after the game that the refs swallowed their whistles. He felt the Sabres got away with five penalties.

Fleury made a couple of big stops on Alex Tuch and Jeff Skinner, but with 19 seconds left, Olofsson made sure the game never got to a shootout with a one-time winner.

listen, i still hate everyone’s favorite team, but i’ve got nothing but love for this olofsson ot winner and even more for the awesome reaction from the fans up in buffalo

— Liam McHugh (@liam_mchugh) January 8, 2023

It was a fun, heart-thumping game, although Evason said it was “not very entertaining from our standpoint.”

Evason talked Saturday morning about how potent the Sabres, who have won eight of nine, were both at even strength and on the power play, “and they proved that. Maybe we wanted to prove how good we are, but that’s not who we are. We traded chances with them and in the end got burnt by it.”

And as for Fleury falling on the proverbial knife, Evason said, “Listen he made 12 saves before that (Dahlin goal) that were absolutely phenomenal that he shouldn’t have made that he makes. One got through him. Whatever. He’s such a competitive guy. He’ll be mad at himself for letting it go through him, but the ones that shouldn’t have went in didn’t because of who he is and how he competes his ass off. So, it’s nothing on him.”

With Mats Zuccarello missing the first of at least two games with an upper-body injury, Boldy got top-line duty on the opposite wing of Kaprizov.

Steve Bartlett, the patriarch of Bartlett Hockey with sons, Brian and Scott, and based in nearby Rochester, N.Y., attended the Wild-Sabres game. The Bartletts represent Boldy, Jordan Greenway and Tuch.

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Boldy is a pending restricted free agent. They’re in the early stages, but it’s believed Brian Bartlett, the lead agent for Boldy, has begun picking away at a new contract with the Wild.

Boldy would love to sign long-term in Minnesota, but it’s almost guaranteed that the Wild can’t afford to go long with him. They have $14.7 million in dead cap space the next two years, the cap may only go up $1 million next season and the Wild only have about $15.5 million as it currently sits entering the summer with Boldy, Gustavsson, Dumba, Duhaime, Gaudreau, Calen Addison, Sam Steel, Mason Shaw and Reaves all unsigned.

So Boldy’s expected to eventually sign a medium-term bridge deal, but the good news is the two sides have begun chipping away.

(Photo: Timothy T. Ludwig / USA Today)