Fleury, Golden Knights top reeling Penguins
LAS VEGAS -- The historically successful start for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights got even more rich Thursday night as they beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 before a sellout crowd at the T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas' Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves against his former team and defenseman Jon Merrill scored the game-winner at the 8:17 mark of the third period for his first goal of the season. Merrill took the drop pass from Erik Haula and beat goaltender Matt Murray low to the glove side.
The Golden Knights improve to 20-9-2, reaching the 20-win plateau the fastest for an expansion team in NHL history.
Murray also made 24 saves for Pittsburgh (16-14-3), which has lost three consecutive games.
After both teams scored early goals in the first period, the goaltenders settled in to take control of most of the game.
The arena included a strong contingent of Penguins fans, who along with the Golden Knights fans, gave Fleury a loud round of applause when he was introduced. Fleury played his previous 13 seasons with the Penguins before he was taken by Vegas in the expansion draft in June.
The Golden Knights got on the board when forward James Neal, another former Penguin, corralled a rebound off a shot by Colin Miller and beat Murray before defenseman Olli Maatta could get in his way. It was Neal's 15th goal of the season.
Fleury thrilled the crowd shortly thereafter going 30 feet from the net to poke away a loose puck from hard-charging Pittsburgh forward Conor Sheary.
The Penguins tied the game 1-1 at 12:14 of the first period when the Golden Knights could not clear the puck, allowing forward Carl Hagelin to flip the pass to Ian Cole. Fleury could not react in time to Cole's high shot into the net.
Fleury wowed the crowd late in the second period when he dove across the crease to prevent a shot by Brian Dumoulin from finding the net at the left post.
Fleury helped Vegas' third penalty kill of the game with two more saves by the time Merrill (delay of game for smothering the puck with his hand) came out of the box with 2:55 left in the period.
NOTES: Vegas acquired F Ryan Carpenter off waivers from the San Jose Sharks. To make room for Carpenter, the Golden Knights assigned F Stefan Matteau to the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves. ... Carpenter appeared in 16 games for the San Jose Sharks this season and has recorded one assist. He has spent parts of the last two seasons with the Sharks and has recorded five points (two goals and three assists) to go with six penalty minutes in 28 games. ... Since Nov. 14, Pittsburgh C Sidney Crosby picked up at least one point in 10 of his last 13 games (eight goals, 11 assists and 19 points).