Marc-Andre Fleury was activated from injured reserve this afternoon. Concurrently, Maxime Lagace was assigned to the AHL's Chicago Wolves.
This Tuesday's tilt against the Carolina Hurricanes is lining up to be Fleury's first appearance in two months, after he suffered a concussion on October 13th, 2017. Following that, the Pittsburgh Penguins come into town on Thursday.
Fleury appeared in 806 regular season and playoff games with Pittsburgh, hoisting three Stanley Cups. This will be his first contest against the Penguins.
Fleury will be made available to the press after practice tomorrow.
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Meanwhile, Lagace saved his best for last.
In his final start before Fleury's return, Lagace stopped 36 of 39 shots, guiding the Golden Knights to a 5-3 victory over the Stars.
"We're really proud of him," said David Perron. "He came in an extremely tough position. He knew he was the last goalie on the line there."
The fourth-stringer posted a 6-6-1 record, keeping Vegas in the playoff race at a time when their next goaltending option was a 19-year-old junior keeper. If the Knights make it, Lagace's, um , legacy will be, in some small way, secure.
Winning Play
"Hard-working." That's the most common description of the 19-9-1 Golden Knights.
That adjective, however, shortchanges the expansion side's actual skill. It suggests that anybody could replicate their success, as long as they want it bad enough.
That couldn't be further from the truth.
Proven scorers like Perron, James Neal, Jonathan Marchessault, and Reilly Smith are within their primes and are better than the traditional expansion fodder. William Karlsson, Erik Haula, Alex Tuch, Colin Miller, and Shea Theodore are emergent talents.
Plenty of teams work hard. Vegas isn't just outworking teams, they're also outplaying them.
That said, last night's game-winning goal, authored by Brayden McNabb, was the result of outworking the opponent:
I'm loath to say #VegasBorn just outworks everybody, too simple, but that's certainly what happens here. It's not just Radulov, you see Spezza change slowly, then Gemel Smith coast on McNabb #GoStarspic.twitter.com/6kf3h3Lyh1
A couple of Perron's trademarks stand out here: Puck possession and a wicked wrister. While the winger is attempting shots at career-low rate, he certainly still owns a dangerous shot.
Great #VegasBorn hockey here: Nosek angles off Seguin, then Perron waits for the lane to open before hitting Haula for the ENG pic.twitter.com/w56UtXAQXP
Perron isn't blessed with great speed, but he's a smart puckmover. This is why he fits the Vegas transition game. The old adage is that there's nothing faster than the puck, and the winger's touch and timing consistently keep the attack moving forward.
Minuses
As they have in every meeting this season, Dallas forwards made life down low hard on Vegas. The Mattias Janmark-Jason Spezza-Alexander Radulov line dominated on the cycle, led by the big, skilled Radulov:
Getting stuck in the cycle presents a wide range of difficulties for the defense. The constant motion of puck and men can be too much for the defense; it's easy to lose coverage. The skill and unpredictability of players like Radulov, Spezza, and John Klingberg also compound your problems.
So about losing your man...
Both Radulov and Spezza roll back toward the net after dropping the puck off. Nobody picks them up again.
While the Golden Knights won't have to tangle with the Stars anymore this season, there are going to be plenty of down-low battles to fight with the likes of Joe Thornton, Anze Kopitar, Ryan Getzlaf, and Ryan Kesler.
I'll write more later about how the Knights can improve their down-low defending. Gerard Gallant himself has admitted that it's not a strength of his team's.
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