The Golden Knights put a stranglehold on their series with the Blackhawks on Saturday night with a 2-1 win in game three. It being the first of a back-to-back meant that the Vegas crease went to Marc-André Fleury who was determined to make an impact. And impactful he was, along with Corey Crawford as the two netminders kept pucks out en route to the lowest scoring game of these two teams inside the bubble.
The Flower That Blooms In Adversity Is The Most Beautiful of All
This bubble may not be in Florida, but Fleury set the stage for a Disney movie scene with a stellar performance in the first twenty minutes of play. The Flower knew that he needed to impress after having lost the de facto starter spot to Lehner, especially since he mainly got the start because of the quick turnaround between games. His gold pads came up golden again and again as Fleury made nine saves in the first period, an excellent start to regaining DeBoer’s confidence as the team looks to go deep.
Fleury’s teammates did their part at the other end of the ice when William Karlsson put the club up 1-0. The shorthanded marker was set up by some great work from Mark Stone before Karlsson dazzled the empty stadium with his finish past Crawford.
Brown Is Back
Vegas opened the second frame on the kill, something they look relatively at ease doing. They did, however, almost find themselves in a tie game as Alex DeBrincat stormed in on a breakaway. Luckily for the Knights, Fleury was as dialled in as ever and came up with a diving save. For all the fight Chicago was showing, they simply couldn’t solve Marc-Andre Fleury.
It was instead the Golden Knights who got the only goal of the second period. Patrick Brown buried the rebound off of a shot from Alex Tuch. Brown only drew into game three after having played a single regular season game. But after scoring in his playoff appearance, and having scored in his regular season game, it should be a safe bet to see the Michigan forward become consistent in the lineup.
Wake Up Call
The intermission speech from Chicago head coach Jeremy Colliton must have been jolting, as the Blackhawks found themselves two goals down in a crucial game three in Edmonton. Whatever he said, it worked because they came out for the final twenty minutes looking much more like the squad that vanquished the Oilers than the one that had been showing up against the Golden Knights.
The pressure paid off when Oli Maata joined the rush to finally foil Fleury with a fluky bounce. Maata’s backhand, no looker took a lucky touch to get behind the golden gear of the Flower. Drake Caggiula and Patrick Kane were both awarded with apples on the play.
Despite being able to keep Golden Knights on their heels for the whole third period, Chicago wasn’t able to pull even as they find themselves on the brink of being swept by Las Vegas.