Fleury, Golden Knights defeat Wild in Game 2, even series

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-1 in Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday to even the best-of-7 Stanley Cup First Round.

Alex Tuch scored two goals for the Golden Knights, who are the No. 2 seed in the Honda West Division.
Fleury made 63 saves on 65 shots in the first two games of the series, including a 1-0 overtime loss in Game 1 on Sunday.
"Guys have been great at letting me see the puck. And when I don't, most of the time they block it," he said. "I thought our defensemen have done a good job with that, and it certainly helps me a lot."
Mathew Dumba scored for the Wild, the No. 3 seed. Cam Talbot made 25 saves after making 42 for the shutout in Game 1.
"We're not proving anything to ourselves. We know the level that we can play at," Dumba said. "I think it's more you guys, the media, putting us as underdogs, and you're going to see a totally different team even at home. We're a different beast."

Game 3 is at Minnesota on Thursday.
Fleury made the save on all 17 shots he faced in the first period, including a deflection from Nick Bonino during a Wild power play at 4:47, and then two backhands by Kevin Fiala at 11:39 followed by Victor Rask on a rebound.
"Not necessarily the start we wanted, but Fleury, it's what he does," Vegas forward Jonathan Marchessault said. "It's what we expect from him every night. We wanted to get him a win."
Dumba scored the first regulation goal of the series at 12:07 of the second period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead.
Marchessault scored 18 seconds later from the right face-off circle to tie it 1-1 at 12:25.
"We seemed a little tentative in the first, actually we seemed a little tentative until [Marchessault's] goal," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said. "Once we got that goal, it was almost like a little bit of a weight off our shoulders."

Tuch gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead at 17:19 of the second off a pass from Mattias Janmark from behind the net.
"We had a few opportunities right there on the doorstep," Tuch said. "That was our mentality, to try and get inside them. They like to pack it in. They're a really good defensive team. If we're able to get in the inside and get pucks in there, just kind of whack at them and get a couple lucky bounces, it'll be huge for this series."
Tuch scored on the power play at 19:08 of the third period for the 3-1 final.
NOTES: Vegas improved to 4-0 following a loss in Game 1 of a playoff series (2018 Western Conference Final against Winnipeg Jets; 2019 Western Conference First Round against San Jose Sharks; 2020 Western Conference Final against Dallas Stars). … DeBoer is 26-15 in the postseason following a loss. … Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty (undisclosed) did not play for the eighth consecutive game. … It was Fleury's fourth straight game allowing one goal or fewer, dating to May 8 against the St. Louis Blues. … Tuch's 17 playoff goals are the most in Vegas history, followed by Marchessault with 16. … Dumba set a Minnesota postseason record with eight blocked shots. The goal was his first in eight playoff games dating to Game 3 of the 2018 Western Conference First Round against Winnipeg. … Talbot's shutout streak ended at 95:45, the second-longest in the playoffs in Wild history (Darcy Kuemper, 124:35 against Colorado Avalanche in 2014 Western Conference First Round). … Minnesota is 2-12 in Game 2 in best-of-7 series in its history.