Fleury gets 450th NHL victory, Golden Knights top Maple Leafs

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves, including a diving glove save late in the third period, for his 450th NHL win, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Fleury (450-255-78) becomes the seventh goaltender in League history to reach the milestone. He is three wins behind New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist for sixth all-time.
"Like I've said many times before, I've been fortunate to play on some good teams," Fleury said. "It's a lot of fun for me to win those games. A lot of fun to win, more than to lose them. Hopefully we can keep it up."
WATCH: [All Maple Leafs vs. Golden Knights highlights]
With Vegas leading 3-2 at 16:17 of the third period, Fleury dove across the crease to save a shot from Toronto forward Nic Petan with his glove after the initial shot from Ilya Mikheyev hit the crossbar.
"It was fun," Fleury said. "A little lucky because I didn't stop the first one because it hit the crossbar. It's good when you get those second saves to redeem yourself. It was a lot of fun.
"You just enjoy it. You get up, have a little smile. You're just happy that it didn't go in. I think as a goalie those are the saves that make you feel like when you're a player and score a goal. Those are the saves I love to play for."
Cody Glass had a goal and an assist for his first multipoint game in the NHL, and Max Pacioretty had two assists for the Golden Knights (11-9-3), who won consecutive games for the first time since Oct. 17-19. They defeated the Calgary Flames 6-0 on Sunday.

"The last six periods, they've been really good," Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. "Obviously, Toronto put a push on. That's another good team over there. I thought we played perfect hockey the first two periods."
Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist and Frederik Andersen made 33 saves for the Maple Leafs (9-10-4), who are winless in six games (0-5-1). It's the first time the Maple Leafs have done that under coach Mike Babcock since it happened twice in the 2015-16 season (0-5-1 from Oct. 17-31, 2015, and 0-5-1 from Feb. 27-March 7, 2016).
"We need to get a win here," Spezza said. "It doesn't matter how it is. If it's ugly, we've got to find a way to get a win."
Glass scored on the power play at 8:07 of the second period to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.
Spezza scored from the right circle at 7:26 of the third period to tie it 1-1, but Tomas Nosek forced a turnover in the neutral zone and scored on a breakaway with a backhand at 8:08 to give Vegas a 2-1 lead. It was his first point in 15 games.

"We had lots of chances," Babcock said. "Bottom line is, we've got to stick with it and just keep grinding. It's disappointing but I'm always about the process and how hard guys play. We played way harder, so I thought that was good."
Mark Stone scored on the power play at 10:22 to make it 3-1.
Zach Hyman cut it to 3-2 on the power play at 12:47, but Cody Eakin scored into an empty net at 19:39, his 100th NHL goal, for the 4-2 final.
"I think we've played better hockey," Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said. "I think we've been playing faster, and a lot of our guys have been ready to go from puck drop and playing a full 60-minute game."

They said it

"We didn't quit. We stuck with it. You go down 3-1, you can pack it in. We were strong throughout that third period. Fleury made a big save on [Petan], [Mikheyev] hit the post. These aren't excuses, just reality. They won the game, but I think we had a chance to win." -- Maple Leafs forward Zach Hyman
"He's pretty incredible when he makes saves like that. As a coach, you come to expect that from him. He's acrobatic, he never gives up on the puck." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant on Marc-Andre Fleury's save in the third period

Need to know

Toronto has been outscored 26-15 during its winless streak. … Maple Leafs forward Pierre Engvall was minus-1 in 9:27 in his NHL debut. … Maple Leafs forwards John Tavares and Auston Matthews each had two shots on goal. … Pacioretty extended his point streak to three games (two goals, four assists). … Golden Knights forward William Karlsson's goal/point streak ended at three games. … Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault extended his point streak to six games (two goals, four assists). … Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt has five assists in his past two games.

What's next

Maple Leafs: At the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-A PLUS, SNO, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ATTSN-RM, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)