Fleury earns 408th career win, Golden Knights top Ducks 3-1
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury has never been one to take credit for his wins.
All 408 of them.
Fleury stopped 17 shots to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to their third straight victory, 3-1 over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
And with his 408th win, the 15-year veteran moved into sole possession of 10th place on the NHL's career list.
"Like I've said before, it's an honor to be among these guys," Fleury said. "I've been fortunate to play with a lot of great players, very good teams. It's pretty cool to be there."
Fleury, who for the second straight game lost a bid for his 50th career shutout in the third period, has allowed just two goals in his last three starts.
"We played a good team tonight and we dominated," said Fleury, now 15 wins behind ninth-place Tony Esposito. "We had the puck all night, we didn't give them much. Pretty quiet on my end."
William Karlsson, Ryan Reaves and Jonathan Marchessault scored for the Golden Knights, who outshot the Ducks 45-18.
After going 0 for 16 on the power play through their first six games, the Golden Knights have scored with the man advantage in each of the last two games. Vegas finished 1 for 5 on the power play against the Ducks, who were 0 for 2.
Vegas, which has answered a three-game losing streak with its current three-game win streak, has gone 11 for 11 on the penalty kill over its last four games.
"They do a good job, they work hard to get in shot lanes, they really put pressure on teams," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "I think they got off to a tough start at the first of the season. I think the guys take pride in that. When you do a real good job killing penalties, that usually sets the stage for your team and I think the guys have done a great job lately."
Ben Street had the goal for the Ducks, and John Gibson finished with 42 saves.
"We have to have more people engaged in the game; we didn't get engaged in the hockey game until maybe the third period, even then we lost too many 2-on-1 battles," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't compete hard enough. Our goalie gave us a chance again. We scored a goal early (in the third period), and then we have a little bit of life to us. We displayed very little life in the first two periods of the game."
As opposed to the Golden Knights, who outhustled Anaheim to loose pucks, were strong on the forecheck, and created many more scoring opportunities than the Ducks.
Per NaturalStatTrick.com, the Golden Knights had 34 scoring chances and 19 high-danger chances. Conversely, the Ducks had just 18 scoring chances and only five high-danger chances.
"I liked everything tonight," Gallant said. "I liked the way we played, I liked our power play, we had good chances, I liked our whole game. The last three minutes of the second period and early in the third period I thought we let down a little bit and gave them some real good chances and we turned some pucks over. But besides that, I thought we played one of our best games."
Karlsson, drafted by the Ducks in 2011, scored his second goal of the season when he redirected Marchessault's centering feed past Gibson for a power-play goal. Karlsson, third in the NHL with 43 goals last season, has two goals and six assists in the last six games.
Reaves scored his first of the season midway through the second to make it 2-0 with his son and mother watching from the stands.
"I've scored in front of (my son) a bunch, but every time my mum comes down I seem to score," said Reaves, whose goal was the game-winner. "And my mum just got here last night. She seems to be my good luck charm."
Street cut Vegas' lead in half early in the third period. Marchessault's empty-net goal with 17 seconds left provided the final margin.
NOTES: NBA great Shaquille O'Neal ignited the crowd inside T-Mobile Arena when he manned the hand crank siren before puck drop. ... Marchessault, who had a career-high 75 points last season, continued his strong play into the regular season, as he's posted a team-high 10 points (five goals, five assists). ... Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle remains one win shy of tying Roger Neilson (460) for 30th among NHL coaches all-time. ... Gibson has allowed two goals or fewer in six of his seven starts this season.
UP NEXT
Anaheim: Hosts Buffalo on Sunday.
Vegas: Hosts Vancouver on Wednesday night.
