Tom’s Daily: VGK Fans March 1; Fantastic Fleury

Tom’s Daily: Vegas Golden Knights will have fans again March 1; Fleury blanks Avs; Artemi Panarin takes leave of absence; Boudreau interested in Seattle Kraken; Skinner a healthy scratch; more.

VGK

The Vegas Golden Knights will be able to host fans starting March 1, but not at the originally requested 20% capacity. (VegasHockeyNow)

Vegas shuts out the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 in a dominant performance by Marc-Andre Fleury. (NHL.com)

Speaking of Fleury and his incredible performance (which we foresaw here) here’s a breakdown of his acrobatics from last night’s win. (VegasHockeyNow)

NHL

Artemi Panarin is taking a leave of absence from the New York Rangers in the wake of abuse allegations. Some speculation has the allegations tied to political payback in his native Russia. Whatever the situation, it’s going to be difficult for both player and team. (ESPN)

Have you noticed? The Florida Panthers are one of the best teams in the NHL right now, and Sasha Barkov is a big reason why. He just moved into second place on the team’s all-time scoring list and like so many things Florida Panthers this season, it happened under the radar. (FloridaHockeyNow)

After the San Jose Sharks were crushed by the Minnesota Wild, the guys at San Jose Hockey Now say that’s enough, let’s kickstart this rebuild now. (SJHN)

Jeff Skinner’s stock continues to plummet in Buffalo, and now the former 40-goal scorer is a healthy scratch after just one assist in 14 games this season. (NHL.com)

Hockeyverse

Bruce Boudreau has expressed his interest in being the first coach of the expansion Seattle Kraken. (Sportsnet)

David Ayers has definitely gotten his 15 minutes of fame after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs last season as an emergency backup goaltender for the Carolina Hurricanes. Here’s a Q&A catching up with the hockey folk hero. (Sportsnet)