Free donuts: Marc-Andre Fleury records another shutout

By Justin Emerson

Saturday, Nov. 24, 2018 | 11:13 p.m.

For the first time this season, the Golden Knights are going to bed in a playoff spot. And they know just whom to thank.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 33 saves Saturday in the Golden Knights’ 6-0 win over the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena, his second shutout in as many nights.

“I was feeling good, relaxed, composed,” Fleury said. “I think we’ve been starting to play a little bit our style, how we can play and how we should play, and it’s been paying off greatly.”

Fleury doesn’t have a lot of recent experience playing both games of a back-to-back. He had not done it this year and only worked in consecutive nights once last season, on the first two games in Golden Knights franchise history. He did it twice in the 2016-17 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But Friday and Saturday marked the first time in Fleury’s career he posted shutouts in back-to-back nights, and the third time he pitched them in consecutive games, with the last coming nearly four years ago. The Golden Knights scored four first-period goals, including one from William Karlsson 14 seconds into the game, to give him Fleury plenty of offensive support.

The win gave the Golden Knights 25 points, tied with the Anaheim Ducks for third-best in the Pacific Division. Owning the tiebreaker, Vegas would make the postseason if it started tomorrow.

“I’ve never been a goalie, but if anybody could do it, it’s definitely Flower,” defenseman Colin Miller said. “He’s been exceptional for us all year. You can’t say enough about him. He continues to do amazing things in his career and it’s a treat to be playing with him.”

According to NaturalStatTrick.com, Fleury faced nine “high-danger chances.” He also faced constant pressure in front of the net.

The heavily blue areas on the shot chart below show where the Sharks took most of their shots at even strength. Of their 33 shots on goal, 19 came from between the face-off dots, with 13 coming from below the dots.

Not all shutouts are created equal. Against the Calgary Flames on Friday, only 12 shots came from the same area with six of those on Fleury’s side of the dots.

“I think we gave up too many chances, but we didn’t want to bore him back there,” Miller joked. “He was great again tonight.”

Vegas coach Gerard Gallant is typically hesitant to start his goalies on back-to-back nights, but he cited Friday’s afternoon game and the extra rest it gave as a reason why he was willing to it.

“It makes it easy when you got a guy like Fleury,” Gallant said. “He had enough work against Calgary, but it wasn’t like he had 50 shots and he had to make outstanding saves back-to-back. We thought he was rested, he felt good, and that made the decision easy for you, especially when he had the shutout the last game.”

One of the Golden Knights’ most popular promotions is giving away free Krispy Kreme donuts the day after a shutout. The Golden Knights released a humorous video of Fleury attempting to collect last time he had a shutout, but he may think twice before going back tomorrow.

After all, if he keeps playing like he has been, he’ll have plenty of opportunities.

“I love donuts, I love Krispy Kreme too so I may have to go back,” Fleury said. “But I feel bad because they have to give so many donuts away. I don’t know, maybe I’ll save them a box.”