Field Level Media
Jan 1, 2019
Brandon Pirri broke a scoreless tie with a third-period goal, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 17 saves to register his league-leading sixth shutout as the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights earned their fourth consecutive win.
It was the 54th career shutout for Fleury, who moved into a tie with Eddie Giacomin and Bernie Parent for 21st place on the NHL's all-time shutout list. It also was Fleury's league-leading 23rd victory of the season.
Pirri, who also assisted on Alex Tuch's game-clinching, empty-net goal with 33 seconds to go, scored his sixth goal in seven games this season. It was his ninth goal in nine career games with Vegas, which improved to 15-3-3 in its past 21 games moved into a tie for first place with Calgary in the Pacific Division.
Jack Campbell, making his first appearance since sustaining a knee injury on Nov. 10, was brilliant in the loss, finishing with a career-high 46 saves for the Kings. Los Angeles fell for just the second time in the past seven games.
The game was scoreless after two periods despite Vegas rolling up a 27-12 edge in shots on goal, including 18-0 to start the second period before Fleury had to stop back-to-back slap shots by Anze Kopitar and Tyler Toffoli on a power play. The Kings then just missed taking the lead when Ilya Kovalchuk rattled a shot of the right post.
It marked the first time in Golden Knights history a game at T-Mobile Arena was scoreless after two periods.
Pirri then gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at the 3:43 mark of the third period, one-timing a shot from the side of the right circle that glanced off Campbell's glove and into the net.
The Kings had a chance to tie it four minutes later when Toffoli came in on a clean breakaway but was stopped by Fleury, who stuck out his left pad to deny a shot by the right post.
The Kings pulled Campbell with a minute to go, and Tuch then sealed the victory with an empty-netter, his 14th goal of the season.
--Field Level Media