Marc-Andre Fleury to start exhibition game for Golden Knights

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will start for the Golden Knights on Thursday when they face Arizona in an exhibition game at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta.

Coach Pete DeBoer announced that Fleury would get the first game back after the NHL paused its season in part because he missed the first three practices in training camp.

“I think Flower had the later start to training camp,” DeBoer said. “He missed the first few days. I felt it was important to get him in a game as soon as possible. That was the only things that went into the decision, but both guys are going to play here.”

Fleury, 35, finished 27-16-5 with a 2.77 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 49 regular-season appearances.

Robin Lehner is in line to start Monday against Dallas in the first round-robin game, as DeBoer said he expects to alternate goaltenders before the Western Conference quarterfinals, which are slated to begin as early as Aug. 11.

“I think I said on a call, we’re going to play both guys through these first four games,” DeBoer said. “I think we have two starting goalies. I think we’re going to need both guys if we go as deep as we want to go and we feel we can go.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.