[ad_1]
LAS VEGAS – Max Pacioretty had two goals and two badists, Marc-Andre Fleury earned his 15th shutout in the playoffs and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks 5-0 on Tuesday night for a 3-1 lead in their best of seven series of conferences in the West.
Vegas can eliminate the Sharks from the post-season for the second year in a row Thursday in San Jose.
Since losing the first game on the road, the Golden Knights have never been relegated to the background and dominated the Sharks 15-6.
Fleury, who has made 28 saves and stuck 87 of 93 shots in the past three games, has improved her career goalscoring average to 2.58.
Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch and Jonathan Marchessault also scored for Vegas. Nate Schmidt and Reilly Smith each had two helpers.
The Sharks dominated Vegas 28-27. After the first two periods, San Jose had 15 shots on goal, but Fleury's brilliance throughout the match made all the difference.
San Jose goaltender Martin Jones allowed two goals and made five saves in the first period before being replaced by Aaron Dell, who finished with 17 saves.
The Sharks were without injured center Michael Haley and defender Marc Edward Vlasic. San Jose center Joe Thornton served a one-game suspension for an illegal hit on Vegas left-winger Tomas Nosek in Game 3.
The Golden Knights continued to hurt the Sharks in the early moments of the periods. Mark Stone dropped the puck for Pacioretty, who quickly snapped a shot across the screen for his third playoff goal. With his help, Stone became the eighth player in the past 30 seasons to have 10 points or more in his team's first four games after the season.
Theodore made 2-0 with the best goal in the series. He skated in the area and by Kevin Labanc, then simulated Brent Burns and slipped between All-Star and Brenden Dillon, through the slot and knocked out Jones before putting the puck in the back just behind the pipe.
After seeing his initial shot blocked by Dell, Pacioretty scored his second goal of the night when he scored the rebound of the post and went into the net with 7:27 to go in the second period.
Tuch ended an eight-goal drought while he recovered a long rebound, maneuvered through the defense and beat Dell to pbad the score to 4-0 with just under 14 minutes.
Tuch's goal marked the 13th time San Jose defender Erik Karlsson was on the ice when the Golden Knights scored. The Sharks acquired Karlsson in September in hopes of strengthening their defense, but neither he nor Burns played as All-Stars in the series.
Marchessault came full circle when he finished a nice Schmidt pbad with 3:36 to go.
NOTES: The Golden Knights are the first team in the history of the NHL to score in the first 90 seconds of four consecutive postseason seasons. The first goal of Pacioretty was the tenth time in 18 games that the Golden Knights scored in the first five minutes against San Jose. … The second line of Pacioretty, Stone and Paul Stastny has generated 28 points in the series, while the rest of the team has 21 combined.
FOLLOWING
Game 5 in San Jose Thursday.
[ad_2]
Source link
