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.
"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 #GoStars pic.twitter.com/6kf3h3Lyh1
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 10, 2017
Perron showed linemates Neal and Haula what they've been missing without him.
That's some strength. pic.twitter.com/l37IfyJ0Ug
— Ryan Quigley (@RP_Quigs) December 10, 2017
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
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 10, 2017
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:
So about losing your man...
Both Radulov and Spezza roll back toward the net after dropping the puck off. Nobody picks them up again.
Keep your eyes on Janmark, who slips into a soft spot like a shadow. Everybody is focused on the puck carrier until it's too late.
The cycle also gets the defense switched into tough one-on-one matchups. Here, Klingberg eats up Alex Tuch.
Klingberg made Tuch look bad here #GoStars #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/bgNJyIb8rm
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) December 10, 2017
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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