Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
He was the emotional heart of the franchise’s first four seasons and his acrobatic goaltending that bordered on gymnastics on skates combined with his prankish ways endeared himself to a new NHL market that absorbed its first major league professional sports franchise in 2017.
Marc-Andre Fleury, now a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, returned to T-Mobile Arena tonight for the first time since he was traded by Vegas to Chicago to shed his salary.
Adoring fans wore his number 29 VGK jersey, which was the best-selling sweater in the National Hockey League three years ago when the Vegas franchise was still a novelty and Fleury was the face of the franchise.
Fleury and Chicago are not doing well in the standings, The Blackhawks are 11-18-5 and second from the bottom in the Central Division. They lost, 6-4, to the Coyotes in their last game two nights ago. Fleury entered the game 9-11-2 with a 3.01 goals against.
The VGK and Blackhawks have not met since the playoff bubble in Edmonton where the Knights knocked out Chicago in five games.
Fleury received a roar of cheers when he warmed up before the game. It was strange to see so many fans in Golden Knights colors down on the opponent’s end of the ice during warmups.
But that’s the power of Fleury, who enjoyed winning free donuts for VGK fans when he registered a shutout under a Krispy Kreme promotion here in Las Vegas and led the first-year team to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2017-18.
“A ton of good memories,” Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer said.
The arena was full. Attendance was announced at 18,367.
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VGK defenseman Ben Hutton scored his first goal of the season on Fleury and that was the scoring in the first 20 minutes.
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Period two was a rough for the Golden Knights.
Jujhar Khaira, off an assist from former VGKer Ryan Carpenter scored to tie the game at one.
Then defenseman Riley Stillman scored later in the period to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead.
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Vegas leads the NHL with 49 third period goals. But with seven minutes to go in the final period, the ‘hawks were still up, 2-1, behind Fleury.
Fleury closed the deal. He stopped 30 of 31 shots and the Blackhawks defeated the Knights, 2-1.
Fleury waved to the crowd, which cheered as he skated off the ice and went to the visiting team’s locker room.
After defeating the Rangers, 5-1, Thursday the Knights fall to 24-14-1 after tonight’s loss. They host Toronto Tuesday here in Las Vegas.