Golden Knights enjoy ride to historic win but keep eye on prize

WINNIPEG -- The NHL record for most wins by a first-season team belongs to the Vegas Golden Knights after their 3-2 overtime victory against the Winnipeg Jets at Bell MTS Place on Thursday.
But the Golden Knights have their sights set far past their 34th win.

RELATED: [Golden Knights-Jets game recap]
"I'm sorry if I don't give you great quotes about it, but it's important for us to keep our mentality of day to day and keep getting better," said forward David Perron, who scored at 3:57 of overtime to give Vegas the historic victory. "Once we got toward 30 games or so, we knew we were going to get this record and it was not about that, really, it's about playing the game the right way."
The Golden Knights (34-12-4, 72 points) lead the Pacific Division and Western Conference.
The win in Winnipeg moved them past the expansion Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who each had 33 wins in 1993-94, when games still could end in a tie.
Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 26 saves against the Jets, said the NHL record isn't much of a discussion topic among the Golden Knights.
"For a while now, we've done well as a team and we knew we'd reach that number, only a matter of time," said Fleury, who is 14-4-2 with a 1.79 goals-against average and .942 save percentage. "We don't look at record. We just play our game and play them one at a time.
"It's nice, but it's not something we sit down and talk about, trying to break a record for expansion teams. I think our focus is on improving as a team, playing well consistently. Tonight, it was against a good team, and we grabbed those two points."

Perron, who has 13 goals, including four game-winners, said there was a time the NHL record would have been a big deal for Vegas.
"If you asked us at the start of the season to get our thoughts about getting that, we'd be pretty happy to do it," he said. "But I think as the year has gone on, the good thing we've done is go game by game, from the 3-0 start to the 8-1.
"Then we get to the injuries, and the same with the five goalies (used in the first 17 games). From then on, we just kept the same mentality and we don't even talk about anything other than tomorrow night's game. We'll be turning the page as soon as we can here once we get on the plane to go to Minnesota. That's how I see it, and I feel like everybody sees it that way. As long as we do that, I feel that the success will be there."
Vegas, 2-0-0 to begin a six-game road trip, plays at the Minnesota Wild on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV).
Defenseman Nate Schmidt called the record "pretty special" and said being part of an unheralded group has been the best part of his season.
"I'm just pumped to have these guys around us," Schmidt said. "These guys in the locker room, that's what's making it fun and that's the most fun part about all of this. Winning or losing, we're having fun at the rink, and that makes it easy to come out and play every day. That's what it's all about."
The Jets came within inches of winning three times in overtime. Defenseman Josh Morrissey shot past Fleury, but Vegas forward Erik Haula made the save in the crease seconds after Bryan Little nearly scored. Then, a few moments later, Blake Wheeler's shot trickled behind Fleury but stayed out in a wild scramble.

In between those plays, Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck made a save against Schmidt on a breakaway.
"Oh, heart-wrenching, blood-boiling, I don't know what else to tell you," Schmidt said. "I was out there for one of those scrambles. Then I get a breakaway and pump it into his chest. There are highs and lows, then we come back again.
"Those are the kinds of overtimes we want in hockey. That's why the 3-on-3 is so great. If we had more 3-on-3's like that, our game would be better off. It was great."
Fleury rolled his eyes and laughed when asked about the overtime.
"Oh jeez, that was a mad scramble," Fleury said. "First one, I knew I made a stop and then I saw everyone looking at me like it was on the other side. I don't know. It was hard to find it, couldn't find it. Guy shoots at the post, everyone diving around. The other, I don't know what happened. It stayed out, that's all that matters."
Said Perron: "That's [Fleury] for you right there; he loves those kinds of moments. I don't know how the puck stayed out, but he found a way to keep it out."
And the Golden Knights found a way.
Again.