Knights beat Jets, even series

Golden Knights forward James Neal said that the performances of Tatar, and fellow returnee Tomas Nosek, epitomized what the team has been doing all season.

On Monday night, Laine’s Winnipeg Jets put Fleury to the test.

Marchessault supplied his sixth goal of the playoffs at 8:45 of the third to make it 3-1. The best-of-seven series resumes Wednesday on the floor of the Mojave Desert. This is the conference finals.

Ex-UMass Lowell goaltender Connor Hellebuyck had 25 saves for the Jets.

The Jets didn’t lose for lack of opportunities. In the 2nd period, they attempted 24 shots but just eight got through.

The Vegas Golden Knights continue to amaze.

Vegas weathered a blistering attack by Winnipeg at the outset.

It looked like they were going to pick up where they left off, but Fleury made key saves early and got help from a teammate and a post in the opening minutes to keep the puck out of his net.

“The second goal was the same thing”.

Centre Paul Stastny said even a one-goal deficit is a hard hole to emerge from in the heat of spring hockey.

Marchessault had two goals in his team’s 3-1 victory. He then fought to control the rebound and jammed the puck past Connor Hellebuyck.

The rough stuff that predominated in Game 1 continued.

Tatar scored the Knights’ first goal when he followed his own miss from the side of the net after it caromed off the boards to beat Connor Hellebuyck at 13:23 of the first period.

Vegas became the first team other than Nashville to beat the Jets in Bell MTS Place since the Los Angeles Kings on February 20. There were unsold tickets for Game 2 last night and there were empty seats, with towels draped over them, for the whole game at the arena. A wrist shot by Kyle Connor from a challenging angle squirted through Fleury, and it was suddenly 2-1 with 12:43 left.

Reilly Smith – The Golden Knights winger earned two assists in a 3-1 Game Two victory at Winnipeg.

When the National Hockey League trade deadline rolled around the Vegas Golden Knights were in the surprising – or maybe you prefer shocking – position of being buyers.

Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault didn’t mince words after the Game 1 loss to the Jets on Saturday night. “We had a really good team win tonight, but some guys really elevated their game to another level”. “Everybody has to be more competitive”. The first two times they did it, they wound up losing the series.

The Winnipeg Jets hope to steal back home ice advantage while taking a 2-1 series lead.

Winnipeg won three times on the top-seeded Predators’ home ice, including Game 7 last week.

It was 71st career playoff victory Fleury in his 125th playoff start, moving him into a tie with Jacques Plante for ninth place on the all-time postseason wins list. The Maple Leafs accomplished the feat against the Red Wings in 1945 to capture the Stanley Cup.

Players have commented on Marchessault’s inability to handle losing to teammates on the miniature basketball hoop they have at the practice facility, so getting him fired up for a crucial game in the Western Conference Finals isn’t hard. And then, somehow, he let one in from a bad angle to Kyle Connor on a power play.

“We didn’t do anything clean, we didn’t do anything quickly”, Jets head coach Paul Maurice said. He has a.945 save percentage in a dozen playoff starts. He added to his points total with two goals tonight, including the one that snubbed any chance of the crowd getting behind a Jets comeback.

Seems like Gerard Gallant made a great decision by inserting Tomas Tatar in the lineup. “It has no implication on the next game”.

He only ended up playing 10 minutes again on Monday, but he made the majority by scoring a goal, attempted four shots (putting two on net), while the Golden Knights attempted 74 percent of the total shot attempts (11 for, only four against) with him on the ice during 5-on-5 play, the best mark of any Vegas player.

The Jets’ lone goal was only the third time in 14 playoff games they’ve been held to one goal or less.