Fleury moves up wins list, Golden Knights defeat Islanders

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury moved up to ninth in wins in NHL history when he made 19 saves for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 4-2 victory against the New York Islanders at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

Fleury is 424-239-72 with two ties in 15 seasons, the first 13 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tony Esposito, who spent 15 seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks after playing 13 games as a rookie with the Montreal Canadiens in 1968-69, was 423-306 with 152 ties.
"It's an honor to be among these guys, guys that I have respect for and have watched play," Fleury said. "It's big. I'm] very fortunate to have played with good teams in Pittsburgh and now in Vegas."
***[WATCH: [All Islanders vs. Golden Knights highlights]*
The Golden Knights scored twice in 63 seconds in the third period to take the lead. William Karlsson tied it 2-2 at 6:22, and Paul Stastny made it 3-2 at 7:25.
"We kept coming at them," Stastny said. "Even when we were down 2-0, those last two minutes of the first period, we kind of fell asleep during that stretch. We just kept our foot on the gas. We didn't back off when we tied it 2-2."
The Golden Knights (20-15-2) have won six straight games at home.

Brandon Pirri scored for Vegas in his first game since being recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Wednesday to take the place of injured forward Max Pacioretty (undisclosed).
Mathew Barzal and Brock Nelson scored, and Thomas Greiss made 43 saves for the Islanders (17-13-4), who had their three-game winning streak end.
"We played a good 20 minutes, but after that, we were just flat," New York forward Anders Lee said. "We put a good push on them and we couldn't seem to get anything going after that. They just kind of took over the game."
Barzal scored at 18:30 of the first period to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Nelson scored 68 seconds later to make it 2-0 at 19:38.
"I thought we had a good first period," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "They had a lot of shots, but they were just throwing pucks (at the net)."

Pirri scored on the rebound of a Nate Schmidt shot at 8:48 of the second period to cut the Islanders lead to 2-1.
Alex Tuch appeared to tie it 2-2 at 15:31 of the second period, but Trotz challenged for offside, and the goal was overturned after video review showed Tuch entered the zone ahead of the puck at 15:26.
Midway through the second period, Vegas coach Gerard Gallant moved Tuch up to the top line with Jonathan Marchessault and Karlsson, dropping Reilly Smith down to play with Stastny and Pirri.
Smith had the primary assist on Stastny's go-ahead goal.
"[Smith's] easy to play with," Stastny said. "He holds on to the puck, buys you that extra second when you play the give-and-go game. He was resilient on the puck all night, and that's what gave us our second chances."
Gallant would not confirm if he will use those lines going forward.
"But I liked it," he said.
Schmidt scored an empty-net goal with 15 seconds remaining for the 4-2 final score.

They said it

"It's mostly not about what they did; it's about what we did. We had a good first period, but we kind of slowed down. I thought we had some good chances." -- Islanders forward Anthony Beauvillier
"When you play with good players, it doesn't matter. I think a good coach will do a good job of switching two guys that will give a spark to two lines. When you make a move like that, it gives you energy to that top line with [Alex Tuch]. I thought our line was playing good, anyway. Me and Pirri just kept playing the same way, and [Reilly Smith] made us better." -- Golden Knights forward Paul Stastny on adjustments made by coach Gerard Gallant in the second period

Need to know

Barzal has two goals in the past four games after scoring three in the first 30 games of the season. … Greiss lost for the first time in four starts. … Fleury is 13 wins from tying Jacques Plante for eighth in NHL history. … Stastny has two goals in four games since returning to the lineup after missing 30 games with a lower-body injury. … Karlsson, whose 14 goals lead the Golden Knights, has scored five times in the past six games. … Vegas defenseman Brad Hunt played 16:52 and had two hits in place of Colin Miller, who is out with an undisclosed injury. It was the first game Miller missed in his two seasons with the Golden Knights.

What's next

Islanders:At the Dallas Stars on Sunday (8 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, MSG+, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (4 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, TSN2, RDS, NHL.TV)