Fleury helps Golden Knights defeat Wild for first time in regulation

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Minnesota Wild for the first time in regulation, 3-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.

It was Fleury's 453rd win in the NHL, one from tying Curtis Joseph for sixth all-time, and the third win in his past four starts.
Mark Stone had two assists for the Golden Knights (19-13-5), who won their third in a row and eighth in 11 games (8-2-1).
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Golden Knights highlights]
"I think we've been playing pretty solid here the last little while, more like how we want to, more consistent," Fleury said. "I think it's big for us. It just gives us a chance to win every night. It's fun to watch the guys go out there and score big goals."
It was Vegas' first win at home against Minnesota (1-3-0) and its first in regulation (2-5-0). The Golden Knights won 2-1 in a shootout on Oct. 6, 2018 at Minnesota.

Mats Zuccarello and Zach Parise scored for the Wild (16-14-5), who are 2-3-1 in their past six. Alex Stalock made 26 saves.
Minnesota played without captain Mikko Koivu (lower body), forwards Jason Zucker (lower body), Joel Eriksson Ek (upper body) and defenseman Jared Spurgeon (upper body).
"We did a lot of good things today," said Wild forward Jordan Greenway, who replaced Zucker on the top line. "That's a fast team we just played. I think we found ways to neutralize them a lot. We had a lot of chances."
Tomas Nosek gave the Golden Knights a 3-1 lead at 6:16 of the third period before Parise scored with Stalock pulled with 1:15 remaining for the 3-2 final.
Zuccarello scored on a 5-on-3 at 19:20 of the first period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. That was Minnesota's lone goal on the power play in five chances.

"This is a game where you need two goals on the power play," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. "You need those things to go in."
Chandler Stephenson tied it 1-1 at 11:22 of the second period off a cross-ice, backhand pass from Stone. It was Stephenson's third goal with the Golden Knights since his trade from the Washington Capitals on Dec. 2.
Stephenson had three goals in 24 games with Washington this season.
"Just trying to take every day and be a better version of myself, and just get experience in games," Stephenson said. "Having the trust in the coaching staff to have more ice time helps. I'm just trying to do my part as much as I can, and just clicking on the chemistry that me, [forward Max Pacioretty] and [Stone] have."

Pacioretty (five goals, four assists) and Stone (one goal, six assists) each had an assist on Stephenson's goal to extend their respective point streaks to five games.
Shea Theodore scored from the right circle at 19:50 to give the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead.

They said it

"What happened is we made some dumb plays and they capitalized on the goals. I look around the League and see teams that lost 200 man games, 150 man games, we're not going to cry, 'Oh, woe is me' because we've got a couple of guys hurt. If you can't win with a couple of guys hurt, you don't deserve to win." -- Wild coach Bruce Boudreau on their injuries
"I think some days we weren't patient. We were frustrated and mad when things didn't go our way, or consistently, for 60 minutes per game. Sometimes we played very [well], had a good period, and then we lost. I think we've been able to put full games together, a few in a row, and it's good. It's good to put that confidence out there." -- Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury

Need to know

Zucker will return to Minnesota for further evaluation and is week to week, Boudreau said. … Wild forward Eric Staal has six points (four goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. … Stephenson is on a four-game point streak (two goals, two assists), the longest in his NHL career. … Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague (illness) played 16:35 in his return to the lineup after missing the past three games. … Fleury improved to 4-9-0 against the Wild.

What's next

Wild:At the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN360, SNE, SNO, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, FS-N, FS-WI, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: At the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)