Vegas Golden Knights Notebook: Nosek, Roy, Smith Injury Updates

It’s a rare few days off for the Vegas Golden Knights as they returned to the ice today for the first time since Saturday night’s 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. The rest comes at an opportune time as the VGK prepares to face the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

What’s At Stake

Heading into tomorrow’s game, the Golden Knights and Avalanche have both wrapped up playoff spots. Vegas has four more points while Colorado has a game in hand. This week was supposed to mark the end of the season series, but Colorado’s pause for COVID-19 the final game will be played Monday, May 10. Vegas is currently riding a franchise-record nine-game win streak, but the Avalanche is a solid 7-3 in its last 10 games.

Head-to-Head

This season, the Golden Knights are 3-3 in six games against the Avs. Marc-Andre Fleury has shut out Colorado twice, and Max Pacioretty leads the VGK in scoring with 4-1-5 against the Avalanche. If DeBoer sticks with his current rotation Fleury is due to get the crease. Vegas has also done a great job against a dangerous Avalanche power play this season, killing off 93.3% of chances against in the season series.

Colorado has out-scored the Golden Knights 13-12 in the series despite being blanked for two games. Holding the high-powered VGK offense to just two goals per game on average is no small feat, but the Avs have done just that. Colorado also has one more point in the season series despite the split, as one of the Golden Knights’ wins came in overtime.

Injuries

At his media availability today, Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer said that forward Tomas Nosek is out “longer than day-to-day” but added, “I’m not worried about his availability late in the season or for the playoffs.” Nosek was one of two VGK forwards injured in Saturday night’s win, the other being Nic Roy.

“I would call Roy more day-to-day,” said DeBoer. “I’m not ruling him out at any point here. We will see how he feels tomorrow and go from there.”

The Vegas Golden Knights are also missing a few other players, notably Reilly Smith, Keegan Kolesar and Ryan Reaves. DeBoer said that both Smith and Kolesar are going to be “game-time decisions” tomorrow against Colorado.