Golden Knights at Blackhawks
Marc-Andre Fleury attempts to grab sole possession of seventh place on the all-time wins list when the Vegas Golden Knights conclude their three-game road trip Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. Fleury posted a shutout versus his former Pittsburgh team in the opener of Vegas' trek on Saturday to tie Terry Sawchuk with 445 career victories.
The 34-year-old Fleury was rested on Monday as Oscar Dansk made his fourth career start and first this season in a 6-2 setback at Philadelphia as the Golden Knights lost for just the second time in six contests. Chicago had its three-game point streak (2-0-1) halted on Sunday as it dropped a 5-3 decision to Washington to fall to 2-2-1 on its seven-game homestand. The setback marked the NHL debut of Kirby Dach, an 18-year-old center who was selected by the Blackhawks with the third overall pick in this year's draft. "Obviously, you want to win in your first game and help the team that way, but I felt good out there," Dach, who missed the team's first five games with a concussion, told reporters. "At the same time, there's things I can clean up in my game to kind of help the team moving forward."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas), NBCS Chicago
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (6-4-0): Reilly Smith scored his seventh goal of 2019-20 on Monday to break a tie for the team lead with Mark Stone, who notched an assist in the loss to increase his club-high point total to 13. Smith, who last season fell one goal shy of reaching 20 for the fourth time in six campaigns, has tallied in four of his last five games while Stone is riding a six-game point streak and has landed on the scoresheet in nine of his 10 contests. Max Pacioretty failed to record a point against Philadelphia, keeping him two away from 500 for his career.
ABOUT THE BLACKHAWKS (2-3-1): Dach blocked a shot and went 1-for-5 on faceoffs while posting a minus-1 rating in 13 minutes, 41 seconds of ice time while playing on a line with Patrick Kane but earned the praise of the future Hall-of-Famer afterward. "I thought he played well, did some noticeable things where he's hanging onto the puck, big body," Kane told reporters. "He's obviously still a young kid, pretty raw, but for his first game against a really good team, one of the better teams in the league, I thought he was noticeable, had some good shifts." Rookie Alexander Nylander, who was acquired from Buffalo in July, notched a pair of assists on Sunday for the second multi-point performance of his career.
OVERTIME
1. Blackhawks rookie LW Dominik Kubalik registered 10 shots against the Capitals, raising his team-leading total to 25.
2. Vegas C Cody Eakin, who scored a career-high 22 goals last season but has yet to tally in 2019-20, is two shy of 100 in the NHL.
3. Chicago C Zack Smith, who was a healthy scratch on Sunday for the first time this season, has yet to record a point in 2019-20 and remains one assist shy of 100 for his career.