Vegas make history with sweep
LOS ANGELES: Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves for his 12th career play-off shut-out as the Vegas Golden Knights became the first expansion team in the 100-year history of the National Hockey League to sweep a play-off series in their first season with a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night at Staples Center.
Ex-King Brayden McNabb scored the lone goal for Pacific Division winners Vegas, who won the best-of-seven series 4-0.
The Golden Knights will play the winners of the San Jose Sharks and Anaheim Ducks series in the semi-finals of the Western Conference play-offs.
“It’s nice,” Fleury said of making expansion club history.
“Obviously all season we haven’t played to beat records and stuff. We always started to focus on the next game and try to win that game. Obviously this is awesome, you know, but it’s play-offs. It’s nice to win, but it doesn’t matter if it’s a sweep or Game Seven. It’s just nice to move up to round two.”
It was the 66th career play-off victory for Fleury, a key member of three Stanley Cup championship teams with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
He moved past Dominik Hasek into 11th place on the NHL’s all-time list for play-off wins for a goaltender.
Jonathan Quick stopped 20 shots for Los Angeles.
McNabb netted t he first play-off goal of his career at the 4:04 mark of the second period.
The score came after Fleury made a big save on Dustin Brown.
Winnipeg moved to within one win of a series victory over Minnesota with a 2-0 win on the road at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul.
The Jets took a 3-1 lead after goals in the first and third periods from Mark Scheifele.
Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves for Winnipeg as the Wild’s attempts to tie the series were frustrated.
It marked a welcome return to form for Hellebuyck, who was yanked after conceding six goals from 22 shots in a 6-2 loss in game three on Sunday.
“Anytime you get scored on, you get better from it,” Hellebuyck said. “We went back and prepared the same way.”
In the night’s other game, the Washington Capitals beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 to pull a game back in their series.
The Capitals now trail 2-1 following the win in Columbus.