Marc-Andre Fleury stars as Golden Knights take 3-0 series lead

Marc-Andre Fleury has appeared in more postseason games than all but four goaltenders in NHL history. Yet, there he was before Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals with butterflies in his stomach.

“I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous,” Fleury said.

“Really?” responded defenseman Nate Schmidt, who was seated next to his teammate at the dais. “Oh, wow.”

Fleury had a little something to prove in his first start of the series and backstopped the Golden Knights to a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Knights lead 3-0 in the best-of-seven series and will go for the sweep in the second game of the back to back Sunday.

Wearing his gold pad setup, Fleury finished with 26 saves and earned his 80th career postseason victory to tie Hall of Famer Ken Dryden for sixth all time.

“Obviously, I love to compete, I love to play, and I still have a lot of fun doing it, especially when we win,” said Fleury, who is 80-62 in the postseason. “When the coach tells me I need to go in, I’ll go in and try my best. When we can win those, that’s a plus.”

Forward Patrick Brown made his postseason debut on the fourth line in place of Tomas Nosek and scored the winning goal in the second period.

William Karlsson had a short-handed goal early in the first for the Knights, who remained undefeated in seven games counting the exhibition since entering the bubble in Edmonton.

“You have a good team at this time of year in the middle of the fight and you have a real chance, and that’s what every coach at this level is looking for,” DeBoer said. “I love our group. I love the commitment of our group. I think every day we’re getting a little bit better.”

Fleury lost the starting job to Robin Lehner entering the series against the Blackhawks, but the 35-year-old showed he can still be counted on when needed.

Fleury turned away several scoring chances from Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat and stretched to make a pad save against Patrick Kane on the doorstep to keep the Knights ahead 2-1 midway through the third period.

The only shot to beat Fleury came at 6:21 of the third when defenseman Olli Maatta’s drive from the left wing slipped under his arm.

“There were some parts of that game we weren’t our best at, and they got some chances that we’d like to have back,” Schmidt said. “To have him back there, he played a fantastic game. He’s the reason why we won this game tonight.”

Left wing Max Pacioretty returned to the Knights’ lineup after he was declared “unfit to play” in Game 2, while center Paul Stastny and Nosek were not in uniform for Game 3.

Brown, who spent most of the season with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League, tallied his second goal in two appearances for the Knights when he cleaned up a rebound at 15:23 of the second.

“It was pretty special,” Brown said. “I’m just happy I can contribute and help the team win.”

The Blackhawks carried play for much of the first period thanks to three power plays, and leading scorer Kane somehow hit the post with an open net late in the period. It was the 13th post or crossbar Chicago hit this postseason, easily tops in the league.

But the Knights went into the intermission with a 1-0 lead on Karlsson’s second goal of the postseason.

Mark Stone stole the puck from Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith at the Knights’ blue line and found Karlsson streaking through the neutral zone.

Karlsson lifted a backhand over the shoulder of Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford at 4:12 of the first.

Crawford had his best effort of the series with 24 saves.

“It’s been good that we’ve managed to win these games like today where we maybe wasn’t at our best,” Karlsson said. “But we’ve got one more win, and it’s going to be just as tough. We’ve just got to keep going. There’s no slacking off here.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.