Knights, Lightning head to conference finals

Veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in his fourth shutout of the playoffs and the expansion Golden Knights are headed to the Western Conference finals in their inaugural season after beating the Sharks 3-0 in Game 6 of their second-round series Sunday in San Jose, Calif.

Jonathan Marchessault opened the scoring, Nate Schmidt added an insurance goal that was only detectable by replay and Cody Eakin sealed it with an empty-netter to help the Golden Knights become just the third team in league history to win multiple series in its first season.

The Toronto Arenas won the Stanley Cup in the first postseason in league history in 1918 and the Blues won two rounds to win the all-expansion West Division in 1968.

The Golden Knights relied on a crew of castoffs, led by a goalie who was part of three Stanley Cupwinning teams in Pittsburgh before headlining a new team. Fleury posted shutouts in Games 1 and 6 against the Sharks and was also spectacular in an overtime win in Game 3.

Next up for Fleury and the Knights will be the Jets or Predators.

The Jets lead that series 3-2 and will host Game 6 on Monday night. Brayden Point and J.T. Miller scored second-period goals, helping the host Lightning beat the Bruins and advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four years.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots — 14 in the final period — for the Lightning, who rebounded from losing the series opener at home to eliminate the Bruins in five games.

David Krejci scored in the final minute of the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead that Point erased with his unassisted goal at 10:43 of the second.

Miller’s power-play goal broke the tie less than four minutes later, and Anton Stralman added an emptynetter with 1:29 remaining to end any chance for a Bruins comeback.

The Bruins played without defenseman Torey Krug, who injured his left ankle during Game 4.

Nick Holden took over Krug’s spot, making his first appearance since Game 3 of the Bruins’ opening-round series.

They lost right winger David Backes with just under eight minutes remaining in the second period Sunday after taking a hard hit from Miller. He didn’t return.

The Lightning and Bruins finished 1-2 in the Eastern Conference.