Golden Knights end homestand vs. Canucks (Mar 20, 2018)
LAS VEGAS -- After four consecutive home losses and a very shaky first period that saw them give up 20 shots, the Vegas Golden Knights seemed to finally regain their form in Sunday afternoon's 4-0 shutout of the Calgary Flames.
William Karlsson scored the first natural hat trick in team history with three goals in less than nine minutes in the second period and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, yanked for the first time all season after allowing four goals on 11shots in an ugly 8-3 loss to New Jersey four days earlier, bounced back to stop 42 shots for his 48th career shutout and 401st career victory, tying Chris Osgood for 12th on the NHL all-time victories list.
With red-hot San Jose still within striking distance, the Golden Knights will try to end their four-game homestand with a .500 record when they face the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas (46-21-5, 97 points) still holds an eight-point lead over the Sharks (40-23-9, 89) in the Pacific Division but still must play San Jose two more times this season, including a nationally televised contest on Thursday night at SAP Center. So the Golden Knights can ill-afford a slipup at home against the Canucks (25-38-9, 59), who are battling the Arizona Coyotes to avoid finishing in the Pacific cellar and have already been officially eliminated from playoff contention.
"Just the bounce-back," Fleury said when asked what he was most proud of after picking up his fourth shutout of the season. "We had a few tough games prior to this one. We had a good talk the past couple of days, and I thought we played good, especially that second period when we came out flying and had a lot of good chances (scoring four times)."
"We weren't happy the way we played over the last couple weeks," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant admitted. "We had some real good games in there. We had some games where I thought we played okay and lost. ... It was important for us to bounce back, for sure."
Vegas, which has as many home wins (25) as Vancouver has overall, plays a Canucks squad that has lost six straight games since losing standout 21-year-old rookie forward Brock Boeser to a potential season-ending back injury.
Boeser, who leads Vancouver with 29 goals and 55 points, was stretchered off the ice in a 4-3 overtime win over the New York Islanders on March 5th after he fell into an open gate at the players' bench trying to make a hit on Cal Clutterbuck, fracturing a bone in his lower back in the process.
The Canucks have scored just six goals in the six games since Boeser's injury and were shut out in three consecutive games. A power-play goal by Nikolay Goldobin at the 10:12 mark of the first period in Saturday night's 5-3 home loss to San Jose snapped a scoreless streak that covered 222 minutes and 57 seconds and 118 shots.
This is the third of four meetings between the two teams. Vegas won each of the two previous contests, 5-2 on Nov. 16 at Rogers Arena and 6-3 on Feb. 23 at T-Mobile Arena. The teams also meet on April 3 in Vancouver.
