Fleury makes 42 saves, Golden Knights shut out Flames

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 42 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights extended their lead in the Pacific Division with a 4-0 win against the Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Fleury's shutout was his fourth of the season and 48th of his career, which is tied with Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings for fourth among active goaltenders. Fleury also tied Chris Osgood for 12th on the NHL wins list (401).

"It's good. We've had such success at home all season long, and the past few games it hadn't gone the way we wanted it to," Fleury said. "It's good to get our mojo back and get a big win here. The guys played a great game."

William Karlsson scored a natural hat trick for the Golden Knights (46-21-5), who ended their four-game home losing streak. Vegas leads the San Jose Sharks by eight points for first in the Pacific.
"Four straight losses isn't what we're used to here," Karlsson said. "It was good to get the home win and get back on track.
"The Sharks are winning a little while we've been losing. It was a huge win and I think we handled it really well. No panic or anything. Just really solid play."
WATCH: [All Flames vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Karlsson has 39 goals this season, fourth in the League behind Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin (40), Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine (43) and Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin (43).
Mike Smith made 27 saves for the Flames (35-28-10), who have lost three of their past four games (1-3-0). Calgary is four points behind the Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, and four points behind the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific.
"We had a good first period," Smith said. "Good energy. I just think, you're going to get scored on. It's how you react to mistakes and goals against. Tonight, I thought we didn't handle it very well."
Colin Miller scored a power-play goal at 5:33 of the second period to make it 1-0.

Karlsson scored at 6:26 to make it 2-0, one-timing a pass from James Neal off a 2-on-1 from the right circle. He extended the lead to 3-0 at 13:01 before completing the hat trick at 14:49 to make it 4-0, shooting on a 2-on-1 past the blocker of Smith.
"[Karlsson] was big tonight," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "He's been one of our top players this year. He did it at the right time. He made some great shots. Good for him."

Goal of the game

Karlsson's goal at 6:26 of the second period.

Save of the game

Fleury's save on Mikael Backlund at 18:35 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Karlsson's goal at 14:49 of the second period.

They said it

"That team we're playing there, they can score. They got some juice from a mistake and they got their juice started with the power play. We just couldn't put one past them, especially early."-- Flames coach Glen Gulutzan
"We weren't happy with the way we played the last couple of weeks. I thought tonight's game was really important. Calgary came out and played with some urgency, and they played really hard. We got some opportunities in the second period to put the game away." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
"Every team's going to be good now, fighting for the playoffs. It's up for us to raise the bar, too." -- Golden Knights forward William Karlsson

Need to know

Karlsson's hat trick was his second of the season (Dec. 31 against the Toronto Maple Leafs). He became the 11th player to score multiple hat tricks while playing for a team in its inaugural season, and the eighth player to have a natural hat trick while playing for a team in its first season. … Flames defenseman TJ Brodie left the game with an upper-body injury in the second period after taking a hit from Ryan Reaves.

What's next

Flames: At the Arizona Coyotes on Monday (10 p.m. ET; FS-A, SNW, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights:Host the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, SNP, NHL.TV)