EDMONTON, Alberta -- Robin Lehner recorded his first career playoff shutout, and the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-0 on Sunday in the first game of their second-round playoff series.
Lehner turned aside 26 shots.
Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch, Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty scored and chased Vancouver starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom from the net.
The Canucks had a handful of dangerous scoring chances. This marks the first time they have been shut out since they lost 3-0 to the Minnesota Wild in the first game of their qualifying series.
Game 2 is set for Tuesday.
Lehner is 9-1 since he was acquired at the trade deadline in a three-team deal including the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks, and he appears to have displaced Marc-Andre Fleury as the starter.
His win won't do anything to cool down a goaltending controversy that flared up over the weekend. On Saturday, Fleury's agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted an image of Fleury on the ice in his Knights' gear being impaled through the torso from the back by a broadsword bearing Vegas coach Peter DeBoer's name.
Fleury addressed the controversy on a Zoom call with reporters before the game. He said that he is very tight with Walsh and that he asked Walsh to take down the tweet so it doesn't become a distraction. Walsh did so Sunday.
Lehner is getting the lion's share of the work in the playoffs. Sunday marked his seventh start, compared to two for Fleury.
Fleury won the Stanley Cup three times with Pittsburgh and backstopped Vegas to the Cup final in its inaugural season in 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
