In Las Vegas Tuesday night, Marc-Andre Fleury returned to the Golden Knights’ nets and was rudely welcomed by the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in a 3-2 shootout loss.
“It was nice,” he said. “I think the first shot, I slipped, missed my post and made a quick save. Not a pretty first one, but it was nice to make a couple of saves and get going.”
The game-winner was credited to Phillip Di Giuseppe in the skills competition.
Cam Ward made 22 saves to get the win; it was his 300th career NHL win.
“It’s something I’ve been striving for, for a while,” Ward said. “I was very fortunate to get it tonight. The guys put forth a great effort, especially coming in a back-to-back situation.”
Marcus Kruger and Trevor van Riemsdyk struck for the Canes in regulation.
Kruger’s was a bit of a fluke on a deflected clearing effort by the Knights.
“I’m a firm believer of when you work hard and compete hard, you’re going to get your bounces and get your breaks. We just didn’t work hard enough tonight … but again we found a way to battle through it and get a point,” Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant said of the goal.
Reilly Smith and Deryk Engelland had the Vegas goals.
“To face a new team, in a new building, in a new city, it was a fun atmosphere. You can see why they’ve got the record they do at home; they put on a pretty good show here, and it was fun to be a part of,” Ward said.
[WATCH: All Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Fleury made 35 saves in the loss.
“I thought [Fleury] had a heck of a game,” Ward said. “He’s a guy that I respect a lot. I’ve been going against him for a lot of years. He’s got a lot more wins (378) than I do. It was great to see him back in the net. You never want to see a guy injured, and it was too long.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.