Golden Knights shut out Flames for 6th straight win

LAS VEGAS -- Ilya Samsonov made 31 saves for the Vegas Golden Knights, who won their sixth straight game with a 3-0 victory against the Calgary Flames at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.

It was Samsonov’s first shutout this season and 14th in the NHL.

“I want to say thank you to the team, guys blocked a lot of shots," Samsonov said. "We played a simple game with less mistakes. Sometimes we get a shutout. It's good, but I don't think about this too much.”

Tanner Pearson had a goal and an assist, and Brett Howden and Victor Olofsson also scored for Vegas (25-8-3), which is 10-1-0 in December.

“Both teams were sloppy at times executing a good first pass. Is that the forecheck pressure? Probably a little bit of both, right? Who knows, maybe the ice was off or the pucks were bouncing,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We're a lot closer (to where we want to be defensively) than we were six weeks ago, and it's one of the reasons we've had a terrific month."

Dan Vladar made 34 saves for Calgary (17-12-7), which had won two straight and had its five-game point streak end (3-0-2).

“[Vladar] was our best player today. He made some saves and he gave us a chance to win,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “He showed some real compete early on to give that group the boost that you would hope they need.

“It was a hard game. Now you turn the page and get ready for another hard game against Vancouver (on Tuesday)."

The Flames had a chance to take the lead late the first period after Tanner Laczynski was assessed a minor penalty for tripping at 15:57 and Howden a double minor for high-sticking at 16:50.

However, Samsonov stopped the only shot he faced during the 5-on-3 and four more during the remainder of Flames’ power play to keep the game scoreless.

“That was huge,” Howden said. “Obviously, we don't like being on that side of it. ... I thought they did a great job of keeping them to the outside and not really allowing much.”

Howden then gave the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead at 15:59 of the second period by tipping in Alex Pietrangelo's wrist shot from the high slot.

It was Howden's 15th goal of the season, which is tied with Ivan Barbashev for the most on the Golden Knights. His previous NHL career high was nine goals.

“I'm getting some bounces going my way a little bit more than from previous years,” Howden said. “I'm finding more confidence as I play here.”

Olofsson pushed the lead to 2-0 at 14:41 of the third period, one-timing a pass from Shea Theodore in the right circle on the power play.

Pearson added an empty-net goal at 19:53 for the 3-0 final.

“It was a good effort by us,” Calgary forward Connor Zary said. “There's little details, little things that weren't fully perfect that ended up costing us.”