Golden Knights defeat Flames to tie wins record

CALGARY -- The Vegas Golden Knights tied the NHL record for most victories by a first-year team with a 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.
Vegas shares the record with the Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who each won 33 games in 1993-94.

"It's good," Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. "It's not something we said, 'we're going to get to that mark.' We're confident in the way that we've played throughout the season so far that we could surpass that mark by a lot. It's nice, but we've got a game to play, the next one, and keep on going."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Flames highlights]
Reilly Smith, Erik Haula, Jonathan Marchessault and David Perron scored, and Fleury made 31 saves for Vegas (33-12-4), which is first in the Western Conference with 70 points.
"We just keep going," Haula said. "We just keep pushing. Don't think about any of that. We have a lot of games left. We have a long way to get to where we want to [be]. We have room to grow, and that's what we're going to try to do."

Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk scored, and Mike Smith made 31 saves for the Flames (25-17-8), who have lost five games in a row (0-1-4) to follow a seven-game winning streak. Calgary also ended an 11-game point streak (7-0-4).
"I'm sure tomorrow we can regroup and take the good but right now it's tough to swallow," Bennett said. "We played a great game up until the last two minutes. It shows you what can happen if you take your foot off for a second. It [stinks], but we'll all learn from this and grow from this in the future."
Trailing 2-1, Vegas scored twice in 10 seconds late in the third period.
Haula scored on a rebound to tie the game 2-2 at 18:14 when Flames forward Michael Frolik inadvertently shot on Smith, and Marchessault put the Golden Knights up 3-2 when he shot short side over Smith's glove at 18:24.

"I was trying to read the play and that happened," Haula said. "I didn't expect it to happen when it did happen. I just kind of blacked out. Then I sit down and I'm gassed and all of a sudden we scored again. I was like, 'What just happened?'"
Perron scored into an empty net at 19:07 to make it 4-2 and cap the three-goal outburst in 53 seconds. Perron has eight points (three goals, five assists) during a six-game point streak.
"It's games like this. They sting. They hurt. They hurt every guy. They hurt everybody here," Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. "But it's how you react to it and the good teams can get back after a tough one like this, and that's what we're going to have to do."

Smith gave Vegas a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 16:03 of the first period when he tipped a wrist shot from the point by Marchessault.
The Flames scored twice in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.
Bennett tied the game 1-1 at 6:02 with a sharp-angled shot between Fleury's legs, and Tkachuk made it 2-1 with 1:17 remaining in the period when he faked a wraparound and brought the puck back out the short side and slid it into the net.

Goal of the game

Marchessault's goal at 18:24 of the third period.

Save of the game

Fleury's save on Troy Brouwer at 16:47 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Tkachuk's goal at 18:43 of the second period.

They said it

"When you don't play your best game and the other team is bottling you down, you just find a way to win. That's what teams do if you're a good team. You find a way to win games. You take a lucky bounce and that's just the way it goes sometimes." -- Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt
"We took our foot off [the gas] for two plays and the puck ended up in the back of the net twice. It's just not good enough." -- Flames forward Sam Bennett

Need to know

The Golden Knights are 22-1-0 when scoring first, which leads the NHL. … Marchessault has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games, and 22 points (eight goals, 14 assists) in his past 18 games. … Vegas forward William Karlsson had two assists and has 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in his past 13 games. … Smith allowed more than two goals for the first time in eight starts. … The Flames are 17-1-2 when leading after two periods. … Tkachuk has 13 points (nine goals, four assists) in his past 12 games.

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN360, SUN, NHL.TV)