LAS VEGAS (AP) The Vegas Golden Knights placed goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and forward Jonathan Marchessault on injured reserve.
Fleury did not practice Saturday after taking a knee to the head from Detroit’s Anthony Mantha on Friday. During his post-game press conference, Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said there was never a discussion about pulling Fleury from the game.
”The trainer, he takes care of the goaltender,” Gallant said. ”Nobody come to me and said he’s hurt, he’s not ready to play, so he was fine.”
Gallant was a bit more forthcoming before Sunday’s game against Boston.
”I can’t tell you the truth all the time, that’s how it works,” Gallant said. ”When a transaction like that happened, I’m not gonna tell you information. I’m not gonna tell you nothing about that. He wasn’t hurt the game, everything was fine. That’s why he played the rest of the game. After the game, sometimes problems arise. During the game you can’t tell a lot of times.”
Left wing David Perron, however, said he felt Fleury wasn’t himself after the collision with Mantha.
”I’m pretty close to him,” Perron said. ”You can tell the way his energy was maybe a little bit different on the ice. He wanted to find a way to win the game.”
With Fleury out at least seven days, rookie Malcolm Subban steps in as the starter.
The 23-year-old Subban has started two career games, both for Boston. The Golden Knights claimed Subban off waivers from the Bruins, and the brother of Nashville Predators defenseman P.K. Subban is expected to start against his former team Sunday night.
”I think we’re still going to play the same (strategy). We have confidence in (Subban). He’s ready, he’s excited, so it should be good,” Knights defenseman Colin Miller said.
Fleury and Marchessault joined forward Erik Haula on the injured list. Haula is expected to be out at least a week with a lower-body injury.
Suddenly banged-up Vegas recalled forwards Vadim Shipachyov and Alex Tuch and goalie Maxime Lagace from AHL Chicago.
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