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It was the 63rd career shutout for Fleury,
which moved him to within one of tying Henrik Lundqvist for 16th
place on the NHL's all-time shutout list. It also was his 473rd
career victory, which ranks fifth all-time.
Pacioretty scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season
for Vegas, which moved a point ahead of idle St. Louis with its
fifth victory in its last six games. The Golden Knights also
improved to 8-1-1 at T-Mobile Arena, a league high for home
victories.
Philipp Grubauer finished with 23 saves for Colorado, which was
playing for the first time since a 2-1 victory over Minnesota on
Feb. 2 due to a COVID-19 shutdown. The loss snapped a
season-best, five-game points streak (4-0-1) for the Avalanche.
Following a scoreless first period that saw Pacioretty hit the
post with a shot and Grubauer swat away another fluttering shot
near the left post, Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 1:38 mark of
the second period when Pacioretty fired a wrist shot from the
top of the right circle around a Mark Stone screen and past
Grubauer's glove side.
Colorado nearly tied it early in the third period on a Jacob
MacDonald wrist shot from the left circle that deflected off
Fleury's blocker and then hit the left post before bouncing
away.
The Avalanche pulled Grubauer for an extra attacker with 1:35
remaining but managed just a wrist shot by Mikko Rantanen that
Fleury easily turned aside.
The two teams continue their four-game set on Tuesday night in
Las Vegas before moving north to play an outdoor game on
Saturday afternoon on the 18th fairway of the Edgewood Tahoe
Resort bordering the Lake Tahoe shoreline in Stateline, Nev. The
final game of the series is set for Monday night in Denver.
--Field Level Media
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