NBCSN’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with Tuesday night’s matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights and Chicago Blackhawks with coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
There’s a long history of NHL teams providing fans with certain food-related benefits should they or a player achieve a specific feat in a game.
• New York Islanders fans used to receive free chili from Wendy’s if they scored three goals. (It used to be six goals.)
• Free 10 oz. Frosty’s were available from Wendy’s if the Nashville Predators scored five times.
• The Detroit Red Wings had a deal with Arby’s where if a player scored a hat trick fans would receive free curly fries. Tough times offensively saw the promotion tweaked early this season to make it so the free fries would be given out if the team scored at least three goals in a game.
So you can bet Vegas Golden Knights fans are enjoying the recent run of form of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The netminder has helped the team win his last four starts and five of his last six. His last two outings saw the very-soon-to-be (Wednesday!) 34-year-old post back-to-back shutouts against the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks.
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Last season, the Golden Knights introduced a promotion with Krispy Kreme where fans could receive a dozen donuts after every Vegas shutout. They recorded five during the regular season and four more in the playoffs.
Through 25 games this season, the Golden Knights, who have their own donut, have five shutouts, all thanks to Fleury. So of course he wanted to benefit from the giveaway.
“I love donuts, I love Krispy Kreme too so I may have to go back,” he said via the Las Vegas Sun. “But I feel bad because they have to give so many donuts away. I don’t know, maybe I’ll save them a box.”
It’s a pretty good bet there will be more free donuts coming for Golden Knights fans. Fleury currently leads the NHL with five shutouts. He’s one of only 10 goaltenders in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68) to record five shutouts in his team’s opening 25 games of a season — a feat he also achieved in 2014-15 with the Pittsburgh Penguins. He now has 53 career shutouts, tied with Nashville’s Pekka Rinne for 23rd all-time, and just one behind Hall of Famers Ed Giacomin and Bernie Parent who are tied for 21st.
Kenny Albert (play-by-play) and Shane Hnidy (‘Inside-the-Glass’ analyst) will have the call from United Center in Chicago.
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NBC Sports examines the improbable first-year success of the Vegas Golden Knights and delves into the future of the NHL’s newest franchise with an exclusive digital series entitled Desert Gold presented by MGM Resorts International. Episode 1 debuts across NBCSports.com, YouTube and Facebook Watch on Tuesday, ahead of Vegas’ road game against the Chicago Blackhawks. This is the first-ever digital sports series of which MGM Resorts has been a presenting partner. Click here for more information.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.