Vegas Golden Knights: Fleury’s triumphant return, other takeaways

NASHVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 01: The shot of Nashville Predators right wing Craig Smith (15) deflects off the pads of Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights, held on February 1, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN - FEBRUARY 01: The shot of Nashville Predators right wing Craig Smith (15) deflects off the pads of Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights, held on February 1, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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NASHVILLE, TN – FEBRUARY 01: The shot of Nashville Predators right wing Craig Smith (15) deflects off the pads of Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights, held on February 1, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TN – FEBRUARY 01: The shot of Nashville Predators right wing Craig Smith (15) deflects off the pads of Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (29) during the NHL game between the Nashville Predators and Vegas Golden Knights, held on February 1, 2020, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Dominance after the bye week continued for the Vegas Golden Knights who shutout the Nashville Predators in a 3-0 success on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena.

Hot off the heels of beating the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, the Vegas Golden Knights produced the goods again to sweep both games of a back-to-back set and secure two huge wins in consecutive nights.

And it was pure domination for the Golden Knights who had the measure of the Predators from the first drop of the puck to the last.

Vegas outshot the Preds 14-2 in the first period and, were it not for the heroic efforts of Pekka Rinne in the Nashville goal, the Knights could have been home and dry heading into the second period.

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But, as the old saying goes, keep trying and you will eventually succeed and that’s what happened in the middle frame when Chandler Stephenson beat Rinne with a wrister on the breakaway.

And the Golden Knights pressed their foot down on the throat of their opponent in the third period, icing the game thanks to Nicolas Roy‘s third goal of the year and an empty-netter from Reilly Smith.

Marc-Andre Fleury also did his part as the future Hall of Famer goalie stopped all 19 shots fired at him to secure both his 59th career shutout and his career 459th win.

It was a complete effort from the Vegas Golden Knights who are showing plenty of signs of improvement under new Head Coach Peter DeBoer, and we had some takeaways from the success over the Nashville Predators…