Marc-Andre Fleury added another milestone to his illustrious career thanks to a strong performance by his teammates.
Jonathan Marchessault scored twice, and Fleury tied Glenn Hall for 10th place on the NHL’s all-time wins list with his 407th victory as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 on Tuesday night.
“I’m really honored to be among these guys in the top 10,” said Fleury, who made 26 saves in the win. “I just try to do my job and stop the puck. Tonight was a great team effort—it wasn’t just me. This was by far our best game of the season.”
Cody Eakin and William Karlsson also found the back of the net for the Golden Knights, who scored more than two goals for the first time in seven games this season.
Vladimir Sobotka spoiled Fleury’s bid for his 50th career shutout, scoring for Buffalo with 37 seconds left in the game.
For the second straight contest, Fleury came up big with crucial saves. Sobotka broke in alone in the third period and fired a shot, but Fleury made a quick glove save. Later, during a penalty kill, Fleury thwarted Kyle Okposo’s shot from the right side with another glove stop.
Vegas was perfect on the penalty kill, stopping all six of Buffalo’s power plays. The Golden Knights have killed off 17 of 21 penalties this season, while the Sabres’ power play remains lackluster, going 4-for-24 through six games.
Buffalo goaltender Carter Hutton stopped 25 shots but couldn’t prevent his team from dropping their third game of the season.
After a tough 2-3-0 road trip, the Golden Knights returned home and delivered their most complete performance of the young season. They resembled the high-energy team that made a run to the Stanley Cup Final last June.
The win also avenged an earlier 4-2 loss to Buffalo on Oct. 8, where the Sabres outworked Vegas on home ice.
“We played a solid hockey game, and I thought we were the better team most of the night,” said Vegas coach Gerard Gallant. “I saw many things we need to do for the rest of the season. Even though we took too many penalties, I’m happy with the performance. But the penalty kill was excellent.”
The Sabres’ power play has been productive in their victories, but it failed them in their three losses, going 0-for-15 in those defeats.
“Special teams were a key part of our game plan,” said Sabres coach Phil Housley. “We knew they hadn’t scored a power-play goal yet and would be working on it. Unfortunately, we missed assignments, and our power play didn’t help us either.”
Marchessault broke Vegas’ power-play drought late in the first period, receiving a pass from Karlsson and one-timing it past Hutton. The Golden Knights were 0-for-16 on the power play entering the game but finished 1-for-3 on the night.
Eakin extended the lead early in the second period with a short-handed goal, his third of the season. Karlsson, who led the team with 43 goals last season, finally netted his first goal of the year after taking seven games to score his first goal last season as well.
Marchessault capped the scoring with an empty-net goal to seal the 4-1 victory.
Game Notes
Buffalo’s Patrik Berglund played in his 700th career game. The Sabres had been 6-0-1 in their last seven road games against Pacific Division opponents. Through their first six games, Vegas had led by only 7:47 in total. After Marchessault’s first goal, they led the Sabres for 41:01.
Up Next
- Sabres: Visit the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
- Golden Knights: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
