Neal: Hopefully that wasn’t the last we see of Marc-Andre Fleury

Marc-Andre Fleury only needed about 5 more inches on Tuesday to add to the latest chapter of his storied career.

Not 5 inches of reach to stop Brett Howden’s overtime game-winner. Fleury needed 5 inches from Gustav Nyquist.

If Nyquist just hangs back a handful of inches, he stays onside, Ryan Hartman’s goal counts and the Wild are 75 seconds away from heading back to Xcel Energy Center to host a closeout game on Thursday.

But Nyquist, a 35-year-old veteran with two goals and five assists in 22 games with the Wild, was ruled to be offside following a Vegas challenge. And the lack of a foot drag by someone playing in his 82nd postseason game allowed victory to be snatched from the Wild in what would have been one of their most thrilling playoff games, based on the circumstances.

Fleury also could have used better defensive work on Howden’s goal. Howden ended up in the slot alone and buried the game-winner. There were a few blown assignments on that play. Zach Bogosian missed a chance to pick off a pass, and both Marco Rossi and Jon Merrill were out of position as Howden floated untouched into the high-danger zone and scored.

Fleury immediately skated off the ice as the Golden Knights celebrated. It’s OK to still feel anguished over how quickly Tuesday’s game turned. Because, for a moment, it appeared that Fleury was going to get the win in one of the craziest Wild finishes ever.

Instead, it was an unexpected cameo for the future Hall of Famer during one of the Wild’s most agonizing losses.

That winning-tight-games trait has escaped them in Games 4 and 5 of this series, both overtime losses. Now they must be at their best to force a return to Las Vegas for Game 7.

“We had a good talk here,” Fleury told reporters in Las Vegas following the game. “Everybody saying the right things.

“By no means is this over.”

And Fleury wasn’t supposed to play on Tuesday.

The Wild trailed 2-1 through two periods, with Filip Gustavsson fighting off a 16-shot onslaught in the first period. Then the Wild managed only seven shots in the second period, one in which they had to kill back-to-back penalties. But they were in the game because of Gustavsson, who stopped 23 of 25 shots.

“I knew I was going in,” Fleury said. “So it gave me a little time to move around a bit.”

As soon as he took the ice, he passed Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy to set a record of 18 seasons for a goaltender appearing in a postseason.

Fans cheered his name one more time as he stopped six of seven shots the rest of the way. He treated the audience to his scrambling style. He made kick saves. He even got into a scrum following a whistle, which might not have been the wisest thing to do. Oh yeah, Fleury has played Vegas before.

Meanwhile, his teammates formed a shield around him, falling in front of shot after shot to deny Vegas access to the net. Fleury didn’t even face a shot until 6 minutes, 15 seconds remained in the period because of elite Wild team defense.

Matt Boldy used his body to force Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to go for a ride while he drove the net and beat Adin Hill to tie the game at 2-2 3:31 into the period. The Wild had regrouped following the loss of Gustavsson to tie the game.

Unfortunately, there was a lot more to come after that. A goal waved off. Overtime. Defensive breakdowns. And heartbreak.