Live coverage: Golden Knights can’t solve Fleury, fall to Blackhawks

By Justin Emerson

Published Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 | 4 p.m.

Updated Saturday, Jan. 8, 2022 | 9:32 p.m.

The Golden Knights are used to Marc-Andre Fleury stealing a game for them. Against them is a different story.

Fleury, the Chicago Blackhawks goalie in his first game back at T-Mobile Arena as a visitor, was terrific in making 30 saves to deny his old club a a chance at victory. The Golden Knights beat him just once, in the first period, but not again as they fell 2-1 on Saturday night.

The Golden Knights started the scoring, lighting the lamp with a Ben Hutton wrister 5:17 into the game, his first tally with Vegas.

The Blackhawks answered with two in the second period to grab the lead. Jujhar Khaira sniped one by Robin Lehner off the rush 4:28 into the period, then Riley Stillman's shot at the 14:21 mark pin-balled off a Vegas defender and the post and into the net.

Through two, Vegas led 21-15 in shots but trailed by a goal. They even had the first five shots of the third as part of a pair of dominant shifts early on. They pulled Lehner for the extra attacker with under two minutes to play, and Evgenii Dadonov had a terrific look with less than a minute left that Fleury denied.

Vegas finished with a 31-21 lead in shots on goal for the game. It was the Golden Knights' third loss in their last four games, all at home.

Blackhawks score twice, grab lead over Golden Knights

If the first period was a crawl, the second period was a sprint, with two goals, but even more action than that.

Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, both goals came from the Chicago Blackhawks, and the home side found themselves down 2-1 after two periods at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Vegas is 4-9-0 when trailing after two periods.

Down 1-0 entering the second period, the Blackhawks tied the game 4:38 on a wicked shot from Jujhar Khaira. He won a foot race in the neutral zone and came down the right wing on Vegas goalie Robin Lehner. A left-handed shot, Khaira had a good angle on Lehner and fired far-side low, between his blocker and leg pad for the goal.

It opened up the game, because what followed the goal was some high-flying hockey after a sleepy first period. Teams traded chances, with Alex DeBrincat flying through both Vegas defensemen at one of the ice before Vegas raced down for a Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar offering.

After all the action, it was a weird one that put Chicago on top. Riley Stillman had the initial shot, which bounced off Vegas forward Brett Howden, off the inside of the post and in. It came at 14:21, and gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead. They almost extended it at the buzzer on another DeBrincat chance, but Lehner made the save.

Vegas led 21-15 in shots on goal through two periods.

Golden Knights grab lead in first over Blackhawks

The Golden Knights honored an old teammate before the opening puck drop, then got to work and scored on him in the first period.

Vegas welcomed back Marc-Andre Fleury with a touching video to start the night, then recorded the only goal in a low-event first period to grab a 1-0 lead over the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

The first goal Marc-Andre Fleury ever gave up to the Golden Knights came from an unlikely source. After not registering a shot for the first four minutes, Vegas won a draw in the offensive zone just past the five-minute mark and pushed the puck back to Ben Hutton at the blue line. Hutton wound up and fired, beating Fleury through traffic and registering his first goal with the Golden Knights.

Nolan Patrick won the faceoff that set up the goal, registering a primary assist for the game game in a row. He missed 29 games with an upper-body injury, and appears to be settling into a groove as part of Vegas' fourth line.

The Golden Knights did a nice job locking down the Blackhawks defensively. After allowing two shots in the opening two minutes of the game, they allowed only two more in the final 18 minutes.

Vegas led in shots on goal 9-4 after the first.

Golden Knights focused on beating Blackhawks, not facing Fleury

All week the Golden Knights have welcomed back old teammates and a coach. Nate Schmidt and Paul Stastny returned with the Jets on Sunday, and Ryan Reaves and Gerard Gallant came back with the Rangers on Thursday.

Tonight will be different than all of them.

Marc-Andre Fleury returns to T-Mobile Arena tonight for the first time as a visiting player when the Golden Knights take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 7 p.m. Fleury isn't just a former Golden Knight — he's perhaps the most beloved athlete in Las Vegas history, and figures to get the loudest cheer tonight of anyone on the ice. For either team.

"I think those other ones, they're definitely special for sure, but with (Fleury) coming in, he was the biggest part of this team for a long time," defenseman Shea Theodore said. "It's going to be a special game."

Fleury is destined for the Hall of Fame once his career is over, with the three Stanley Cup rings with the Penguins and last year's Vezina Trophy as the league's top goalie last year with Vegas.

Vegas coach Pete DeBoer has led plenty of Hall of Famers in his career. He's coached Martin Brodeur, Jaromir Jagr and Joe Thornton, all oof whom are either in the Hall or will be as soon as they retire. Even still, DeBoer says he's never seen quite the level of love between a city and player as between Las Vegas and Fleury.

"I don't think I have, but warranted." DeBoer said. "A great person and I think the situation with Vegas — new team, him being a star being open-arms to come here and embrace the opportunity — I think all that played together, and the way he played obviously, too. A lot like that first season, you don't see that very often, that type of love from a fanbase. But it was deserved, and I'm glad I got to witness it."

Still, DeBoer was adamant about one point.

"This isn't a tennis match. This isn't us against (Fleury)," DeBoer said. "This is the Golden Knights against the Blackhawks and they've got a good team, they're coming off a tough loss and they're going to be motivated."

Indeed, Fleury is only one of 20 players in the Blackhawks lineup and while the Blackhawks have struggled this year, they still have dangerous playmakers. Patrick Kane is the obvious one, the former Hart winner who is bound for the Hall of Fame one day, and he leads Chicago with 23 assists and 30 points.

But it's Alex DeBrincat who leads the team with 21 goals and has established himself as the go-to offensive options. No one else has even reached double-digit goal totals.

The story though is going to be Fleury, and how Vegas handles taking him on. The Golden Knights practiced against Fleury for four seasons and they either didn't pick up any tactics on beating him, or they weren't sharing. Theodore though, made sure to give his old teammate and a wink and a nod on the chance they go head-to-head.

"I was telling him I don't have the same shootout move that he may have seen before, so if it comes down to it I'm probably going to do something different," Theodore said. "It's going to be good to see him out there."

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Betting line: Golden Knights minus-245, Blackhawks plus-215; over/under: 6 (minus-105, minus-115)

Golden Knights (23-13-1, 47 points; 1st place, Pacific Division)

Coach: Pete DeBoer (third season)

Points leader: Chandler Stephenson (35)

Goals leader: Jonathan Marchessault (18)

Assists leader: Chandler Stephenson (25)

Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (2.95 GAA, .906 save percentage)

Blackhawks (11-18-5, 27 points; 7th place, Central Division)

Interim coach: Derek King (first season)

Points leader: Patrick Kane (30)

Goals leader: Alex DeBrincat (21)

Assists leader: Patrick Kane (23)

Expected goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury (3.01 GAA, .907 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Evgenii Dadonov—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Mattias Janmark—Nicolas Roy—Keegan Kolesar

William Carrier—Brett Howden—Nolan Patrick

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Alex Pietrangelo

Shea Theodore—Zach Whitecloud

Ben Hutton—Dylan Coghlan

Goalies

Robin Lehner, Logan Thompson