Vegas Golden Knights: Fleury grabs the headlines as Leafs beaten again

Marc-Andre Fleury made the save of the century and the offense did their job as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

You have to see it to believe it. Yes, we are talking about the absolutely bonkers and unbelievable save from Fleury that bailed out the Vegas Golden Knights and allowed them to secure a second big W on the bounce.

After snapping a five-game losing streak on Sunday by smoking the Calgary Flames, the Golden Knights faced another big test in a desperate Maple Leafs team who had dropped five straight prior to last night, being outscored 23-13 in that span.

But, for the second game in a row, the Knights passed the test with flying colors as they did what they had to do in order to get the job done.

Fleury stopped 31 of the 33 shots he faced, including THAT absolute stunning stop which we will be talking plenty about, and the Knights had others to thank as they continued their mini resurgence.

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Cody Glass recorded the first multi-point night of his young NHL career with a goal and an assist, while Tomas Nosek and Mark Stone scored in quick succession after Maple Leafs forward Jason Spezza had made it a tied game.

Zach Hyman‘s goal on the power play set everything up for a thrilling finish, and the game looked to be going to Overtime as Nic Petan had an empty net to shoot in.

However, if there is one thing we know for certain it is that Marc-Andre Fleury is not human at all and he produced arguably the save of the century to absolutely rob Petan.

And that kept the lead alive for the Golden Knights who iced the game with seconds left as Cody Eakin got on the board with an empty netter.

It was a big win for the Vegas Golden Knights who have now gone two-for-two on this current homestand, and they are now 11-9-3 on the year.

Let’s delve into the game some more by breaking it down period by period…

The Game

First Period – There was a good flow to the game in the opening exchanges and the Golden Knights survived an early scare after Alex Tuch was on the wrong end of a huge hit, although he appeared fine on the bench which was good news.

Marc-Andre Fleury made a big save on Zach Hyman – a sign of things to come – while Tomas Nosek was sprung free on a breakaway thanks to a sublime pass from Shea Theodore, although the forward fanned on the shot.

Vegas outshot the Maple Leafs 10-9 in what was an entertaining first period, and the fun was only just beginning.

Second Period – Marc-Andre Fleury was called into action early in the middle frame as Auston Matthews showed off his skill with a ridiculous shot, and Frederik Andersen was also busy in the Toronto net as he denied both Shea Theodore and Ryan Reaves.

But Andersen was finally beaten at 8:07 as the Golden Knights went on the power play for the first time, with Cody Glass stuffing home a Max Pacioretty rebound after the Leafs had failed to clear the zone.

And that slender lead was intact heading into the third period as Fleury stretched a shutout streak to 103:21, stopping a grand total of 51 shots during that stretch.

Third Period – Toronto did finally beat Marc-Andre Fleury at 7:26 in the final period, however, after Nic Hague coughed up the puck which led to Jason Spezza wristing a shot past Fleury to make it a tied game.

It didn’t take long for Vegas to get the lead back, though, and it came because of a stunning individual moment of brilliance at 8:08.

Tomas Nosek stole the puck in the neutral zone, went on the breakaway, deked Frederik Andersen before then backhanding the puck past the Toronto goalie.

Breathtaking.

Fleury then made another fine stop to deny John Tavares and that gave the Knights the platform to add to their lead as they went a perfect 2-for-2 on the power play.

Mark Stone received a dish from Cody Glass in the circle and he did the rest by ripping a wrister past Andersen to make it a 3-1 game.

Toronto hit back again though as they got an opportunity on the power play, with Zach Hyman in the right place at the right time to sweep home a Jason Spezza rebound at 12:47.

And this is where the momentum shifted.

With the Maple Leafs chasing the tying goal, they thought they had it when Nic Petan had the puck on his stick with an open net starting right at him in the face but no one could have imagined what happened next.

After Petan threw the puck towards goal, Fleury threw himself through the air like Superman and somehow clawed the puck out of the air with his mit like a Gold Glove Baseman.

It was an absolutely breathtaking moment and it SHOULD be the save of the year with no arguments.

And that stunning moment seemed to defeat the Maple Leafs and the Golden Knights iced the game at 19:39 when Cody Eakin received a dish from Max Pacioretty before charging towards the empty net and doing the rest.

It was a second straight win for the Vegas Golden Knights and all the headlines rightly belonged to Marc-Andre Fleury.

Let’s go over some notes and stats from the game…