Fleury makes 28 saves, Golden Knights shut out Red Wings

DETROIT -- Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for his third shutout, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.
Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin each scored two goals for the Golden Knights, whose 19th road victory tied the 1993-94 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for most by a team in its inaugural NHL season.

"Our guys take a lot of pride in our road record," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "Some of our best games this season have come on the road."
WATCH: [All Golden Knights vs. Red Wings highlights]
Vegas (43-19-5), which is 2-3-1 in its past six games, leads the San Jose Sharks by 10 points for first place in the Pacific Division and trails the Nashville Predators by six for first in the Western Conference.
"This is big because we've shown again that when we go through a rough patch of the season, it won't keep us down," Fleury said.

The Golden Knights played their fifth straight game without forward James Neal (lower body), whose 24 goals are tied for second on Vegas, and first without forward Reilly Smith (undisclosed), whose 22 goals are tied for fourth.
"Eakin and Tuch stepping up and getting those goals was big for us and big for this hockey team," Gallant said of the third-line forwards. "If we're going to win games with guys out, we're going to need goals from our other lines."

Detroit (26-30-11) has lost five in a row (0-4-1) and trails the Columbus Blue Jackets by 12 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Jimmy Howard made 28 saves.
"We weren't good enough," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "There have been a lot of games this season where we have competed hard and not gotten the results we deserve. Tonight, our compete level was unacceptable."
Tuch scored unassisted to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 2:24 of the first period, keeping it on a 2-on-1 rush and beating Howard to the short side.
Vegas scored three times in the second period.
Eakin scored shorthanded to make it 2-0 at 10:40, taking advantage of a bad Detroit line change to score on a breakaway.
"We had a turnover that should have never happened, and then tried to make a line change," Blashill said. "That's discouraging to see."
Eakin scored his second goal of the period at 17:48 to put the Golden Knights ahead 3-0, circling through the Red Wings zone before beating Howard with a wrist shot.
Tuch made it 4-0 when he scored his second goal of the game at 18:38.

"We have a lot of guys who are capable of scoring, and tonight showed that," Eakin said. "We didn't force things. We let them come naturally."
Forward Tomas Tatar had three shots on goal in 15:46 in his first game in Detroit since being traded by the Red Wings to the Golden Knights on Feb. 26.
"It was really weird, but that's part of being a professional hockey player," he said. "I was excited about being back and seeing everyone, but it was stressful to go up against these guys that I've fought alongside for so long."
It was Fleury's 47th NHL shutout, tied for fourth with Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings among active goalies.
"Great goalies make big saves, and that's what he did tonight," Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "He kept us from getting back into the game when it was still 1-0."

Goal of the game

Eakin's goal at 17:48 of the second period.

Saves of the game

Fleury stopping Justin Abdelkader at 5:45 of the third period and Nick Jensen at 5:51.

Highlight of the game

Eakin's goal at 10:40 of the second period.

They said it

"I thought it was a great team performance. We've been really consistent all season, and when we've had a bad stretch, we've always been able to bounce back. We had only won one of the last five, so we needed a big win tonight and we worked hard to get one." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
"There is a learning process with young players, and we understand that, but we aren't going to lower our standards. You can't cheat on offense and hope you get a bounce. That will lose you a lot of hockey games." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Need to know

The Golden Knights had two players score multiple goals in a game for the first time in their history. … Red Wings forward Evgeny Svechnikov had one shot on goal and was minus-2 in 9:09 in his season debut. He was recalled from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League on Thursday to replace injured forward Frans Nielsen (upper body).

What's next

Golden Knights: At the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; MSG-B, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, FS-O, FS-D+, NHL.TV)