Fleury's second straight shutout carries Golden Knights past Canucks

LAS VEGAS -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 19 saves for his second consecutive shutout, and the Vegas Golden Knights won their fourth straight game by defeating the Vancouver Canucks 3-0 at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

It was Fleury's League-leading eighth shutout this season and his 436th NHL victory. He is one shy of tying Jacques Plante for eighth place on the all-time wins list.
"Last game against the Anaheim Ducks on Friday, a 34-save, 3-0 victory] was busier and [there were] more scoring chances," said Fleury, who has not allowed a goal in 168:43, the longest shutout streak of his NHL career. "The guys dominated from start to finish [today] and played very well. We had the puck a lot and controlled play."
***[WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Golden Knights highlights\]*
It's the second time this season Fleury has had consecutive shutouts. He was in goal when the Golden Knights defeated the Calgary Flames 2-0 on Nov. 23 and the San Jose Sharks 6-0 on Nov. 24.
Max Pacioretty, Ryan Carpenter and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights (36-26-5), who moved eight points ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for third place in the Pacific Division. They are nine points behind the San Jose Sharks for second place.
"I feel like we're getting our confidence back," Carpenter said. "Anytime you win games, it's contagious playing that style of hockey."

The Canucks (27-30-9) have lost six of their past seven games (1-4-2) and 11 of 14 (3-8-3). Jacob Markstrom made a season-high 45 saves for Vancouver, which trails the Minnesota Wild by eight points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Vegas outshot Vancouver 48-19. It's the second-most shots the Canucks have allowed in a game this season; the Winnipeg Jets had 49 in a 6-3 win at Vancouver on Nov. 19.
"We weren't good," Canucks defenseman Ben Hutton said. "We can't be doing that to [Markstrom]. He had such a great game. To put up a goose egg for him, that hurts even more."
Vegas scored all three of its goals in the second period.
Pacioretty scored his Golden Knights-leading 21st of the season at 5:42 on a one-timer to give Vegas a 1-0 lead. Carpenter scored at 8:21 to make it 2-0, and Smith scored his third goal in three games at 18:54 for a 3-0 lead.

They said it

"Obviously, we're confident that he's in net, but we have to play better in front of him, as well. I think we've been leaning on him too much. He's been unbelievable for us all year, and we've got to start scoring some goals for him." -- Canucks forward Bo Horvat on the play of Jakob Markstrom
"You can't just limp in. You have to have that confidence so that when it comes to playoff time, you really just shut your brain off. It's muscle memory at that point. You make the plays you've made all year and if you have the confidence to make them, you'll make them. If you don't, you won't." -- Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt

Need to know

Vancouver had one shot on goal from 1:20 to 15:49 of the third period. … Markstrom has allowed five goals on 93 shots in his past two starts. … Carpenter scored his first goal since Jan. 12 against the Chicago Blackhawks. … This was the second time in their two-year history the Golden Knights did not commit a penalty in a game; the other was Feb. 11, 2018, against the Philadelphia Flyers. Vancouver committed two penalties.

What's next

Canucks: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday (9 p.m. ET; SN, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights: Host the Calgary Flames on Wednesday (10:30 p.m. ET; SN1, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)