Golden Knights keep rolling
Vegas wins eighth straight game
Night after night, the Vegas Golden Knights keep proving it’s no fluke they’re the top team in the West.
Just ask last year’s conference champions.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 shots in his second shutout of the season, leading Vegas past the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Tuesday.
“It’s always a work in progress. It’s never perfect,” Fleury said. “When you get a shutout, it doesn’t mean it was a perfect game on my end. I know there’s still stuff to be worked on, but it’s definitely nice to be rewarded with a shutout.”
Reilly Smith, Shea Theodore and Jonathan Marchessault scored for the surprising Western Conference leaders. Fleury improved to 8-1-1 with his 46th career shutout.
“Our goaltending has been unbelievable all season long,”
“Vegas head coach and Summerside native Gerard Gallant said. “Fleury keeps going in there and playing really well. Tonight (Tuesday), they probably should’ve had the lead in the first period.
“In the second, they come out in the first five minutes and have some really good chances. He stood on his head, made some great saves, and gave us a chance to get the lead. He played really well and he’s a big part of that win tonight.”
Vegas has won eight in a row and earned at least one point in 13 consecutive games, both NHL records for a first-year team. The expansion Golden
“It’s always a work in progress. It’s never perfect. When you get a shutout, it doesn’t mean it was a perfect game on my end. I know there’s still stuff to be worked on, but it’s definitely nice to be rewarded with a shutout.” Marc-Andre Fleury
Knights are 17-2-1 at home and 27-9-2 overall.
“That’s a good hockey team over there. Give them credit, they played well,” said Predators defenceman Ryan Ellis, who made his season debut after recovering from knee surgery.
“A lot of it comes back to us as far as turning pucks over and not getting pucks deep, getting away from our game plan.”
Playing their fourth road game in the last five, the Predators were shut out for just the second time this season. Nashville also was blanked by Pittsburgh 4-0 on Oct. 7.
“We just keep playing our game and have good success,” Gallant said. “It’s about competing and getting ready for the next game. If we keep playing the kind of hockey we’re playing, we’re going to win a lot of hockey games.”
NOTES: The crowd of 18,171 was the third-largest for Vegas ... Vegas forward Erik Haula played in his 400th career game . ... Golden Knights goalie Malcolm Subban is the younger brother of Nashville defenceman P.K. Subban . ... Vegas is 17-1-0 when scoring first, best in the NHL.