Big Announced Crowd Of 18,398 Fills Arena To Watch VGK Defeat Minnesota Wild, Fleury, 4-1, Saturday
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
Minnesota’s Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Reaves are fan favorites in Las Vegas.
But with the top record in the NHL’s Western Conference up for grabs, Saturday night was not a time to get sentimental for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Former VGK goalie Fleury was between the pipes for the Wild, which were only two points behind Vegas for the best record in the West. Reaves was in the lineup as a fourth line winger for Minnesota.
There were lots of Minnesota fans in the crowd, which was announced at 18,398.
But after the Wild’s Matt Boldy scored his 29th five minutes into the game, the Knights reeled off three straight goals in the first and second periods for a 3-1 lead after the first 40 minutes.
VGK defensemen scored the Knights’ two goals in period one.
Ben “EF” Hutton tied the game midway in the first period, then Zach Whitecloud snapped a wrist shot into the upper tight corner of the net behind Fleury and VGK led, 2-1, after the first stanza.
In period two, fourth line winger Brett Howden scored his fifth on a nice shot that beat Fluery and Vegas led, 3-1, after two periods.
The Golden Knights are coping with injuries to forwards William Carrier, Mark Stone and Reilly Smith. Pavel Dorofeyev was also missing, while defenseman Shea Theodore was nursing an injury.
Laurent Brossoit was in goal for Vegas and he stopped 26 of 27 Minnesota shots through two periods.
Chandler Stephenson added an empty-netter and the Knights skated away with a 4-1 win to hit 101 points, while Minnesota was at 97 points.
After the game, here’s Hutton discussing Brosssoit’s goalie work tonight.
