Matinee Hockey On Las Vegas Strip Sunday With VGK Shutting Down Arizona, 1-0; Fleury Moves Into Tie For Fourth Place In All-Time Wins

April 11, 2021April 11, 2021 Alan Snel Adin Hill, Ed Belfour, Fleury, Max Pacioretty, Nic Hague, Patrick Roy, Ryan Reaves, Tomas Nosek

Story by Alan Snel Photos by Daniel Clark

It’s a matinee in the Las Vegas desert, with the Arizona Coyotes in town to take on the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Golden Knights are allowed to have a 22 percent capacity in T-Mobile Arena, or 3,950 fans.

They follow COVID-19 pandemic protocols before they enter the building.

It’s Military Appreciation Day at the arena. The Golden Knights players skated in military jerseys during warmups and those pre-game sweaters will be auctioned off online.

Some fans wore VGK camouflage jerseys, like this fan in the upper bowl.

Only 56 seconds into the game, VGK Nic Hague went to the penalty box for two minutes for a high stick, but the Knights quelled the Coyotes power play attempt.

Marc-Andre Fleury is back in goal for the Golden Knights.

VGK forward Ryan Reaves appeared to deliver a vicious elbow to the face of Coyotes player Jordan Gross, but the officials did not call anything. Don’t be surprised of Reaves is suspended for that hit.

The Knights had nine shots on goal to Arizona’s six, and it was scoreless after one period. VGK forward Max Pacioretty has 299 career goals and 291 assists in 800 career games entering Sunday.

In the second period, the Golden Knights had all types of scoring chances. But they couldn’t convert.

Still scoreless with 12:12 left in period two.

The Golden Knights have hit four posts this afternoon. But after two periods, this game is still scoreless.

The Knights came out of the shoot red-hot Friday, when they defeated Arizona, 7-4, including four goals in the first nine minutes.

VGK is controlling most of the play today, peppering Coyotes goaltender Adin Hill with 25 shots on goal, while Fleury has stopped 10 Arizona shots through two periods.

With 9:22 left in period three, Tomas Nosek skated into the slot and fired in his seventh goal of the season to crack the scoreless game and give VGK a 1-0 lead.

The goal held up and the Vegas Golden Knights came away with a 1-0 win over Arizona. Vegas improved to 27-11-2, trailing Colorado by two points for first place.

The VGK held Arizona to 14 shots on goal, while Knights had 29.

Thanks to Fleury’s shutout, Krispy Kreme gives away 12 free donuts when fans buy 12 donuts. Fleury moves into a tie for fourth place for all-time wins with 484 with Ed Belfour and into a tie for 15th place for all-time shutouts with 66 with Patrick Roy.