LAS VEGAS: The historically successful start for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights got even more rich Thursday night as they beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1.

Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves against his former team and defenceman Jon Merrill scored the game-winner at 8:17 of the third period for his first goal of the season. The Golden Knights improve to 20-9-2, reaching the 20-win plateau the fastest for an expansion team in NHL history.

The sellout crowd included a strong contingent of Penguins fans, who along with the Golden Knights backers gave Fleury a loud round of applause when he was introduced. Fleury played his previous 13 seasons with Pittsburgh before he was taken by Vegas in the expansion draft in June.

Murray also made 24 saves for the Penguins, who have lost three consecutive games.

Elsewhere, Alex Chiasson scored two third-period goals —the second short-handed — to help Washington Capitals defeat Boston Bruins 5-3.

The Capitals’ Braden Holtby stopped 34 shots to raise his career record against the Bruins to 13-2-0. Rookie Jakub Vrana, Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin (empty net) also scored for Washington, which has won nine of its last 11 games.

Patrice Bergeron scored twice -- including a power-play goal 4:22 into the second period to tie the game for Boston, which had its three-game winning streak snapped and lost for only the third time in its last 11 games. Brad Marchand set up Bergeron’s first goal, notching his 400th NHL point and extending his points streak to seven straight games (four goals, seven assists).

Nikita Kucherov scored for a third consecutive game and set up one of two goals in a 41-second span of the first period, and league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning won its season-high sixth straight game 4-1.

Kucherov took over the NHL scoring lead by one point (44-43) over teammate Steven Stamkos, who had an assist, and the Lightning improved to an NHL-best 23-6-2 while dropping Arizona to a league-worst 7-22-5.

The Coyotes lost their fifth in a row and eighth in nine games.

Reuters