Buffalo cut Toronto’s lead to 4-2 with its second power

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury put a stop to Vegas’ early sophomore slump.Fleury keyed the Golden Knights’ far-fetched run to the Stanley Cup Final in their rookie season and then had a highlight-reel outing to silence a slow start to their second one.Fleury turned away breakaways Nikita Zaitsev Jersey Kids , made sliding stops and used great glovework to stop 26 shots to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.“Fleury was outstanding today and he was the difference in the hockey game,” coach Gerard Gallant said.But he almost needed overtime.Cody Eakin bailed out the Golden Knights with the winner with 1:25 left in the game. Eakin ended the scoreless tie with a sensational sequence for the goal. He made a dive for the puck to keep it away from Flyers center Sean Couturier in Philly’s end of the ice. Ryan Carpenter snared the puck and passed it back to Eakin, who fired it from the circle past Brian Elliott for the winner.“It’s just one of those ones where a stick and a bounce, and we were in the right spot at the right time,” Eakin said.Elliott was pulled to give the Flyers the man-advantage and they still couldn’t solve Fleury. Fleury made a diving stop across the crease with 30 seconds left to deny Flyers captain Claude Giroux the tying goal.He beat the Flyers for the 29th time, got his 406th career win and 49th NHL shutout.The Golden Knights had had hit the skids with a 1-4 start that included an opening-night home loss to the Flyers. But on the final game of a five-game road trip, Fleury carried Vegas to a needed win before it returns home next week to open a five-game homestand.Fleury made 10 saves in the second period and all of them were worthy of retweets. He stuffed Scott Laughton on a short-handed breakaway that wiped out the center and sent him crashing into the boards. Laughton crashed back-first into the boards and was down on the ice for a few seconds Womens Patrick Marleau Jersey , then went straight to the locker room. He didn’t return until the third .Moments after that save, Giroux was alone on a breakaway, took a nifty skip over a Vegas blade and was also stopped by Fleury. Fleury lay on his right side and snared the puck with his glove a tick before it reached the crease. Giroux’s stick hop was a play-of-the-day candidate — had Fleury not topped him with the save of the month. The Golden Knights tweeted the clip with the caption, “Don’t you Fleury bout a thing.”“You know he had a couple desperate saves there,” Giroux said. “He’s a goalie that doesn’t quit on the puck.”The Flyers were stomped 8-2 in their home opener Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks and were booed off the ice to start a make-or-break year in coach Dave Hakstol’s fourth season. They rebounded 24 hours later with a gritty win at Ottawa and played a solid 60 minutes Saturday against the Western Conference champions. It just wasn’t enough for a team that can’t avoid any more injuries.“This is one of those nights, tip my hat to Fleury in net, they made a play late in the hockey game and it hurts like hell to walk out of here with nothing Rasmus Andersson Jersey Womens ,” Hakstol said.Elliott rebounded from the eight-goal disaster in his last home start to stop 20 shots against Vegas.“Both teams had a lot of chances. Goalies played well and we were able to get the last one,” Eakin said.Laughton was banged up and forward Oskar Lindblom also hit the locker room in the third after Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb plowed him into the glass. The Flyers were already without two of their top nine forwards — Nolan Patrick and James van Riemsdyk. Patrick could miss up to 10 days after he took a stick to the face against Ottawa. Van Riemsdyk, who signed a $35 million, five-year contract in the summer, is out another month because an injury suffered when was hit with a shot in the second game of the season.The Golden Knights played their straight game without injured center Paul Stastny, who was signed to a $19.5 million, three-year contract in the offseason.NOTES: Gritty continues to get more mainstream exposure than any mascot or mortal in the NHL. Gritty taped a segment at a Philadelphia cheesesteak landmark for “Jimmy Kimmel Live !” that aired this week. “Picked up a side hustle for when Claude’s on the road William Nylander Jersey ,” Gritty tweeted . His in-game skits are a hit with fans — especially a videotaped segment that showed him taking out the trash and doing other chores around like the arena like a mascot everyman.UP NEXTGolden Knights: Host Buffalo on Tuesday night.Flyers: Host Florida on Tuesday night. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) James van Riemsdyk thought about the possibility of back-to-back hat tricks. Then again, five goals over two nights and a career milestone will do just fine.Van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. It came after a three-goal performance one night earlier in a 6-5 shootout win over the Dallas Stars.”Our line has been playing good for a while now, maybe not getting just rewarded with some of the bounces as we would’ve liked,” van Riemsdyk said. ”So it’s nice to see our line get some bounces in the sense of being able to capitalize on some chances.”Connor Carrick, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Marleau also scored for the Maple Leafs, and Curtis McElhinney stopped 38 shots.With the win Zach Hyman Jersey , the Maple Leafs picked up their third consecutive win following a four-game losing streak.”I thought we played a pretty solid game for a back-to-back situation,” McElhinney said. ”It was a big win for us.”Van Riemsdyk set the tone early by picking up Toronto’s first two goals and hitting a career-best in the process. He opened the scoring from a bad angle 3:39 into the game as he spun at the end line and flung the puck between Lehner’s legs, which deflected off the goalie’s pad into the net.Van Riemsdyk then set a new single-season career-high for goals three minutes later with his 31st. Left all alone in the Sabres’ end, he took his time before firing a wrist shot high to the glove side.”He’s obviously been real hot here since the trade deadline,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. ”I don’t know if it’s you get to concentrate on hockey and not think about the other things but he’s been good for us. He’s obviously got real good hands around the net and an important player for us.”Sam Reinhart and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo, and Robin Lehner finished with 33 saves. The Sabres were unable to repeat their surprising performance against the Maple Leafs from March 5, when the struggling Sabres picked up an upset 5-3 victory.”We just can’t allow ourselves to get behind like that early in the game Alex Burmistrov Jersey ,” Sabres coach Phil Housley said. ”It was a tale of two games. Last game we play them here, same thing happened, we got that two-goal lead. It was just a reversal tonight.”Carrick made it 3-1 6:22 into the second period on a long shot through traffic from the point.Bozak made it 4-1 with 5:50 remaining in the second on a terrific pass by van Riemsdyk, who spotted him all alone on the opposite side of the crease.Reinhart got the Sabres on the board with a power-play goal with 5:31 remaining in the first. Reinhart has four goals in his past six games and 26 points in his last 26 games.Buffalo cut Toronto’s lead to 4-2 with its second power-play goal of the game just before the end of the second. Pominville redirected Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot from the point with 58.5 seconds left in the period.Marleau added an empty-netter with 43.6 seconds remaining.Toronto forward Leo Komarov was injured midway through the second period after a collision with teammate William Nylander and did not return. Babcock said after the game that Komarov should be fine and may not miss any time.NOTES: The upper-body injury to Maple Leafs starting goalie Frederik Andersen is not considered serious, Toronto coach Mike Babcock said before the game. Andersen left Toronto’s 6-5 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night midway through the second period. Toronto recalled Garret Sparks to serve as its backup against Buffalo. … RW Kyle Okposo was scratched for Buffalo as he recovers from a concussion. … Sabres C Jack Eichel skated Thursday morning and is getting closer to returning from an ankle injury. Eichel could return on Saturday against Chicago.UP NEXTMaple Leafs: Host Montreal on Saturday night.Sabres: Host Chicago on Saturday.—