Marchessault, Fleury help Golden Knights defeat Sabres

LAS VEGAS -- Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for his 407th NHL victory for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 4-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

Fleury tied Glenn Hall for 10th place on the all-time wins list, and is 16 from tying Tony Esposito for ninth place (423).
William Karlsson scored his first goal of the season and had two assists, and Cody Eakin scored for the Golden Knights (3-4-0), who won consecutive games for the first time this season.
WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Vegas has allowed one goal in its past two games after giving up 19 in the first five.
"We played a lot better defensively," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "I thought the guys competed defensively. Everyone was important for our team tonight."
Fleury credited his teammates for tightening the play in the defensive zone.
"It's something that made us successful last year," Fleury said. "Our speed and transition game, and the way our guys played defensively in our zone, preventing those passes in the crease or the backdoor [passes], and I think we've been better in the last few games with that."

Vladimir Sobotka scored, and Carter Hutton made 25 saves for the Sabres (3-3-0).
"I just don't think we were desperate enough tonight," Hutton said. "I thought we were facing a really good goalie. I think we didn't generate enough traffic."
Marchessault scored the Golden Knights' first power-play goal of the season at 18:59 of the first for a 1-0 lead. Vegas had been 0-for-16 with the man advantage. Karlsson took the entry pass from Reilly Smith and found Marchessault alone in front of the net.
"That was a good entry," Karlsson said. [Smith] sauced it back, and I knew [Marchessault] was kind of over there."

It was the first time this season the Golden Knights ended the first period with a lead.
Eakin scored for the third time in four games, a shorthanded goal at 2:08 of the second period to make it 2-0.
"Personally, I didn't think it was a terrible game by me, but the second goal, I'd definitely like to have back," Hutton said. [Eakin] just kind of beat me under my arm. It's a save I have to make."
The Golden Knights were 6-for-6 on the penalty kill and have not allowed a power-play goal in their past three games (9-for-9).
"First of all, we have to stay out of the box," Karlsson said. "I think they didn't have too many dangerous chances on the power play. I think we kept them on the outside. They didn't have too many clean break-ins. Just everything was really working."

The Sabres have gone 1-for-16 on the power play in their past three games.
"I think we weren't real sharp with our execution," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "When we were good coming out of our end we had this push and we had some zone time, but you could see just the lack of execution."
Karlsson scored off a deflection from Smith at 10:40 of the third for a 3-0 lead.
Sobotka ended Fleury's bid for his second consecutive shutout with 37 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 3-1, but Marchessault scored an empty-net goal at 19:47 to make it 4-1.

They said it

"I thought they had some good chances in the first and kind of took it to us. I thought the special teams game killed us tonight. It's disappointing here after a big win in Arizona to come in and kind of lay an egg." -- Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton
"Some games it feels like [the puck] is going really fast, others it's more controlled and you see the game [better]. I also think our guys did a great job taking the passes across away. Little things the guys did makes my job better and makes me look better."-- Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury

Need to know

Sabres forward Patrik Berglund played his 700th NHL game. … Fleury is one shutout from 50 in the NHL. He has not had consecutive shutouts since Feb. 4-6, 2015 (at the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames). … Vegas scored more than two goals for the first time this season. … Marchessault has eight points (four goals, four assists) in the first seven games. … The Golden Knights appeared to take a 1-0 lead at 8:40 of the first period, but after video review the goal was nullified for offside.

What's next

Sabres: At the San Jose Sharks on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCA, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, PRIME, NHL.TV)