Marc-Andre Fleury gave Vegas fans some scare when he left the game after the first period on March 20th against Vancouver.
That was Fleury's 30th start in the Knights' last 33, prompting renewed cries about Gerard Gallant and Dave Prior's overreliance on the 33-year-old.
Never mind that Fleury was sent to the locker room by a freak shot off his mask.
Fleury, of course, came back on March 24th at Colorado, missing just one game for what we assume to be precautionary reasons.
"You know why," teased Fleury, when I alluded to his nights off. Team policy is, shall we say, tight-lipped when it comes to even the whisper of an injury.
Interestingly, the one contest which Flower missed -- March 22nd at San Jose -- was supposed to be a day off for him regardless.
"I wasn't playing anyway," revealed Fleury. "That was the [original] plan."
So assuming Subban takes at least one of the games from the upcoming, regular season-ending road swing through Western Canada, that means Fleury will have played just six of nine going into the playoffs.
That should be sufficient rest for Flower.
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Last night's contest, which was also the last regular season home game of the year, began with a sobering reminder of October 1st's Route 91 shootings.
#VegasBorn retire No. 58 for the 58 victims of #1October shootings #VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/QIMYqmoAKt
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 1, 2018
As for last night's action, Vegas clinched the division in style, as William Karlsson undressed Martin Jones:
Tied at two with about 13 minutes left in the final frame, the San Jose forecheck was feasting, forcing a Jon Merrill trip on Timo Meier. Merrill had been on the ice for a 2:03 shift before he took out Meier.
However, it was the Golden Knights penalty kill which would exhaust the Sharks.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare wins the faceoff and Deryk Engelland clears. Evander Kane gains the zone, but Tomas Nosek beats Logan Couture to a loose puck, poking it out with a dive.
Now William Karlsson takes over at center ice. Look at Karlsson's stick position -- he feints to take away the pass to his forehand, but knows Couture wants Joe Pavelski for a stretch pass up the middle (to Karlsson's backhand). Couture is feeling lucky, but Karlsson guesses right.
Karlsson cranks a wrister over Jones. Little does Jones know that Karlsson will be back.
Brayden McNabb claims a loose puck, but his clear is intercepted by Couture, who enters the zone and hands it off to Kevin Labanc rolling down the right wing. A hustling Cody Eakin forces Labanc to give it up. Pavelski follows.
Just two skaters are missing from this capture:
At this point, everybody in the building knows where Pavelski wants to go with the puck -- the San Jose power play revolves around the Brent Burns blast from the blueline.
"They're trying to get the puck back to the point a lot," Gallant noted.
"I thought it was going to go there, and it did," indicated Karlsson. "Just instinct."
The rest, of course, is SportsCenter.
A gif of my still shots in sequence of @WKarlsson71's awesome short-handed goal against the @SanJoseSharks #VegasBorn #RJnow pic.twitter.com/QNjh2VQ0DM
— Chase Stevens (@CSStevensphoto) April 1, 2018
Karlsson says last time he pulled off that move was as an 18-year-old in Swedish second league #VegasBorn
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 1, 2018
Let's devote today's +/- to one player, Ryan Reaves, who remains as polarizing as ever in the press box.
This, of course, is the Oscar Lindberg goal which gave the Knights a brief 2-1 lead.
Here's Reaves "intimidating" on the forecheck:
Labanc certainly looks like he heard Reaves's footsteps; Labanc is not a forward with a reputation of hanging tough.
Good for Lindberg too -- that's his first goal since December 23rd against the Caps.
Minuses
So that was good Reaves; this was not-so-good Reaves:
Really clever play by #SJSharks on Pavelski goal. San Jose change, Burns has the puck. It's 5v5, but they execute a power play-like breakout.
— Sheng Peng (@Sheng_Peng) April 1, 2018
Donskoi swings behind Burns, building speed, Donskoi blows by Reaves, and it's a clean zone entry from there. pic.twitter.com/ZXbd7XXd8X
Compare this to the aforementioned Karlsson takeaway on Couture.
The Golden Knights visit Vancouver this Tuesday.
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