Golden Knights Gameday #28: East Coast Swing: Lines, Notes vs Bruins

The Vegas Golden Knights (16-11) enter a four-game road trip Tuesday night with their first stop being in Boston, Massaschutches. They will take on the Bruins (14-8-2) at TD Garden Tuesday night with a 4:00 PST start time before traveling to New York, Newark, and then Long Island.

“This is a tough stretch of games. I think some really good teams in some tough buildings on the road. It is a good test for us heading into the Christmas break,” said Golden Knight head coach Peter DeBoer.

The Bruins will be without two of their top players in Craig Smith and Brad Marchand Tuesday night. Both have been placed in COVID-19 protocols as of Tuesday morning despite Marchand taking part in the team’s morning skate just hours earlier.

We have seen the number of players in COVID-19 protocols shoot up over the past few days. The Calgary Flames have been shut down and will have to reschedule six of their games.

Both Shea Theodore and Nicolas Roy were absent from the Golden Knights morning skate- possibly due to more COVID-19 issues within the National Hockey League. DeBoer lists them both as game-time decisions.

We've seen 23 players added to the NHL's Covid Protocol list inside the last 36 hours.

— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) December 14, 2021

Robin Lehner will get the start in net tonight against Jeremy Swayman of the Bruins. This will be Swayman’s 14th start of the season as he has split games with Linus Ullmark.

For the Golden Knight’s they will look to build off a crazy but strong Sunday night game against the Minnesota Wild. The special teams came up big in that contest with the powerplay scoring two goals and the penalty kill doing its part as well.

The big guns of Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, and Alex Pietrangelo have all been leading the way for the Golden Knights as of late. But one player that frequently goes under the radar is Chandler Stephenson. Stephenson scored a career-high four points against the Wild, all of which were assists.

PROJECTED VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS LINES

Offense

Max Pacioretty- Chandler Stephenson- Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson- Reilly Smith

Mattias Janmark– Nicolas Roy*- Evgenii Dadonov

William Carrier- Keegan Kolesar- Michael Amadio

Defense

Nicolas Hague– Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Zach Whitecloud

Ben Hutton- Shea Theodore*

Goalie

Robin Lehner/Laurent Brossoit

Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams

Special Teams: 15.94% Powerplay (28th) and 78.75% Penalty Kill (23rd)

PP1: Stone, Stephenson, Dadonov, Theodore, Pacioretty

PP2: Smith, Karlsson, Marchessault, Roy, Pietrangelo

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Roy, Stephenson, Hague, Whitecloud

Injured Reserve

Jack Eichel, Nolan Patrick, Alec Martinez

Roy and Theodore are game-time decisions.*

PROJECTED BOSTON BRUINS LINES PER PUCKPEDIA

Offense

Taylor Hall- Patrice Bergeron- David Pastrnak

Jake DeBrusk- Charlie Coyle- Nick Foligno

Erik Haula- Tomas Nosek- Karson Kuhlman

Anton Blidh- Trent Frederic- Curtis Lazar

Defense

Derek Forbort- Charlie McAvoy

Matt Grzekcyk- Mike Reilly

John Moore- Connor Clifton

Goalie

Jeremy Swayman/Linus Ullmark

Boston Bruins Special Teams

25% Powerplay (6th) and 82.19% Penalty Kill (12th)

PP1: Foligno, Bergeron, Pastrnak, Hall, McAvoy

PP2: Frederic, Coyle, Haula, DeBrusk, Grzelcyk

PK1: Bergeron, Lazar, Moore, McAvoy

PK2: Nosek, Coyle, Forbort, Clifton

Injured Reserve

Jakub Zboril, Brandon Carlo, Craig Smith, Brad Marchand

How to Watch/Listen: 4:00 pm on ESPN+ and Fox Sports 98.9 FM.