In Detroit Thursday, the Vegas Golden Knights’ Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves to shut out the Red Wings, 4-0.
The Knights’ offense came courtesy of Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin each of whom struck for two goals.
“This is big because we’ve shown again that when we go through a rough patch of the season, it won’t keep us down,” Fleury said.
The Knights are just 2-3-1 in their last six; a stretch of limited success that for other teams would be a boon.
“Our guys take a lot of pride in our road record,” Vegas head coach Gerard Gallant said. “Some of our best games this season have come on the road.”
Vegas is 43-19-5 and lead the San Jose Sharks by 10 points.
“Eakin and Tuch stepping up and getting those goals was big for us and big for this hockey team,” Gallant said of the third-line forwards. “If we’re going to win games with guys out, we’re going to need goals from our other lines.”
On the flip side, the Red Wings have lost five straight and dropped to 26-30-11.
“We weren’t good enough,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “There have been a lot of games this season where we have competed hard and not gotten the results we deserve. Tonight, our compete level was unacceptable.”
Detroit was sloppy most of the night and surrendered one shorthanded goal on a turnover.
“We had a turnover that should have never happened, and then tried to make a line change,” Blashill said. “That’s discouraging to see.”
Tomas Tatar was back in Detroit after being traded in late February.
“It was really weird, but that’s part of being a professional hockey player,” Tatar said. “I was excited about being back and seeing everyone, but it was stressful to go up against these guys that I’ve fought alongside for so long.”
[WATCH: All Golden Knights vs. Red Wings highlights]
Jimmy Howard made 28 saves in the loss.
“There is a learning process with young players, and we understand that, but we aren’t going to lower our standards. You can’t cheat on offense and hope you get a bounce. That will lose you a lot of hockey games,” Blashill said trying to wash away some of the frustration form a poor effort from his side.
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