diff --git a/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh b/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
index c8ca11ccb9d6f..b3f785254c2ae 100755
--- a/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
+++ b/build_tools/circle/build_doc.sh
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ conda update --yes --quiet conda
 # Configure the conda environment and put it in the path using the
 # provided versions
 conda create -n $CONDA_ENV_NAME --yes --quiet python numpy scipy \
-  cython nose coverage 'matplotlib=2.0.*|>2.1.0' sphinx=1.6.2 pillow
+  cython nose coverage matplotlib sphinx=1.6.2 pillow
 source activate testenv
 pip install sphinx-gallery numpydoc
 
diff --git a/examples/neural_networks/plot_mlp_training_curves.py b/examples/neural_networks/plot_mlp_training_curves.py
index 89ca2747bdd42..323b2348c7342 100644
--- a/examples/neural_networks/plot_mlp_training_curves.py
+++ b/examples/neural_networks/plot_mlp_training_curves.py
@@ -85,5 +85,5 @@ def plot_on_dataset(X, y, ax, name):
                                                     'circles', 'moons']):
     plot_on_dataset(*data, ax=ax, name=name)
 
-fig.legend(ax.get_lines(), labels=labels, ncol=3, loc="upper center")
+fig.legend(ax.get_lines(), labels, ncol=3, loc="upper center")
 plt.show()