Neal: Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson gets the point, cedes the net to Marc-Andre Fleury

Matt Boldy drove home the game-winning goal in overtime, skated to the left corner and jumped into the plexiglass as fans erupted.

It was a move that, temporarily, divided the Wild on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center.

Teammates on the ice at the time of the goal rushed toward him to celebrate. Another group of Wild players emptied out of their bench and headed for their goalie. Meanwhile, a blob of players in orange and white — rumored to be Anaheim Ducks — attempted to avoid the two groups. Then the Boldy group headed toward the larger group. The Ducks group remained on the ice as players from their bench joined them.

This was The Flower Effect.

The Wild tied the game 2-2 with a six-on-five goal from Joel Eriksson Ek with 22 seconds remaining, clinching a playoff spot with the point to lower blood pressure throughout Xcel Energy Center.

That led to classy move No. 1. Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson left his post for Marc-Andre Fleury, who got the win in his 1,051st and final regular-season game.

With the point secured, Gustavsson wanted to come off for Fleury, and coach John Hynes approved. An opportunity for Fleury to receive more ice time as the final season of his Hall of Fame career winds down. A playoff appearance isn’t guaranteed for him, and Hynes allowed him to feel the love from the fans one more time. Especially after he made five saves, and stopped an Anaheim power play, before Boldy scored for a 3-2 overtime win.

“That was fun to go out there one more time out there, you know, and play the game I love,” Fleury said. “So that’s cool.”

It was cool to see Fleury play like it was seven years ago. Because an Eriksson Ek slash put Anaheim on the power play early in the overtime period. Fleury needed every twist, sprawl and scramble in his bag of tricks to keep the Ducks from scoring during the penalty kill. Fleury even patted the post after one shot rang off it.

Wild fans were on their feet throughout the overtime period, chanting, “Flower, Flower,” after some of the hard-fought saves. It was the same end of the rink where, last Wednesday, Fleury gave up three goals against San Jose in a game the Wild won 8-7 in overtime. After what might have been the final start of his tremendous career, a chagrined Fleury said he would remember standing on the ice with his children during the national anthem and then getting two points.

He grinned on Tuesday, following what might have been the shortest win — in terms of ice time — of his career.

“I feel lucky to have a chance to get in front of [fans] and get a win,” Fleury said. “Not give up seven goals.”

After the winning goal came classy move No. 2. The Ducks not ducking the great Fleury.

Anaheim players remained on the ice during the Wild celebration, then lined up to take turns paying respects to the legend. It’s not the first time it has happened to Fleury, and it is not getting old. Fleury has been showered with affection by his former clubs such as Pittsburgh, where he won three Stanley Cups. And it’s likely to happen sometime during the first-round series against Vegas.

Alex Ovechkin, during his drive to be the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring leader, ordered his Washington teammates to line up and honor Fleury a few weeks ago following a game at Xcel.

It’s not easy for superstars to accept these gestures or spend their final season on a retirement tour.

Fleury, one of the most entertaining goaltenders of our time, is making his final season as entertaining as it can be.

And he gets to be on one more playoff team.

The Wild needed 82 games to get there, but they qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs on Tuesday. They started the season fast, were upended by injuries and went from early November to Sunday not at full strength.

They were on Tuesday, with Jake Middleton returning after being boarded two weeks ago during a game against the Islanders. On cue, Middleton was on the ice when the Ducks took a 2-1 lead 8:45 into the third.

That was during the 60 minutes of the game that were painful to watch. The enjoyable five minutes occurred with Fleury on the ice.