Golden Knights Gameday 62: Road Trip Woes: Lines, Notes, vs Jets

The Vegas Golden Knights (32-25-4, 68 points) will finish off their current five-game road trip Tuesday night against the Winnipeg Jets (27-23-10, 64 points). The Golden Knights are still looking for their first win of the trip as they have lost four straight games.

Most recently they lost against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday which saw the team’s offense start to come through. After scoring two or fewer goals in four straight the Golden Knights put up four against Elvis Merzlikins and the Jackets but did not win.

The Golden Knights are 4-8-1 since adding Jack Eichel to their lineup and placing Mark Stone on LTIR. They have lost 10 of their last 14 games and are now in the second Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.

“We’re four games into this trip and I could argue we could have won every one of the games, but we found ways to lose. And that’s troubling. We’ve got to stop the bleeding,” said Golden Knights head coach Pete DeBoer.

In terms of Golden Knights injury updates, Max Pacioretty will likely miss another game. He left Friday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and did not return. Ben Hutton is also still in COVID-19 protocols. Daniil Miromanov is also questionable to play as he took a puck to the face against the Blue Jackets and did not return.

Both Paul Cotter and Brayden Pachal have been recalled from the Silver Knights. Reilly Smith and Robin Lehner, who both returned to Las Vegas due to injury, have also been placed on injured reserve.

The Golden Knights only have three games until the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline.

Keys to the Game

1- ‘Grab Your Nuts and Just Work’

After the loss against the Blue Jackets, Golden Knights forward Chanler Stephenson had a simple yet effective quote on what he thinks the team needs to do to get out of their funk.

“Everybody has to dig deeper, grab their nuts and just work. That’s the bottom line,” said Stephenson.

Simplicity seems to always be the answer whenever a team or a player is in a slump. For the Golden Knights, this will be the key in returning to the level we all know that they can play at. Overthinking things and second-guessing on situations have seemed to hurt the Golden Knights the most lately.

2- Continue to Score

It came in a loss but four goals from the Golden Knights Sunday is a step in the right direction. Not only this but they got scoring from all walks of life with the powerplay, first line, William Carrier, and Evgenii Dadonov all scoring.

With the likelihood of having ten players out Tuesday, this depth scoring needs to continue if the Golden Knights want any shot at beating Connor Hellebuyck.

3- Silver Knights Step Up

Injuries have forced the hand of the Golden Knights with some of the roster decisions and guys from the AHL have gotten called up as a result. If not for injuries they would not be in the lineup, but that doesn’t mean they can’t start to produce at the NHL level as well.

Jake Leschyshyn, Jonas Rondbjerg, and Daniil Miromanov are the main three that come to mind here. We are past the point where these guys are looked at as patchwork players as Rondbjerg and Leschyshyn have played over 20 NHL games this season. It is time for these young guys to start chipping in offensively.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

William Karlsson- Jack Eichel- Jonathan Marchessault

William Carrier- Chandler Stephenson- Nicolas Roy

Evgenii Dadonov- Nolan Patrick- Keegan Kolesar

Jonas Rondbjerg- Jake Leschyshyn- Michael Amadio

Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo

Shea Theodore- Zach Whitecloud

Brayden Pachal- Dylan Coghlan

Laurent Brossoit/Logan Thompson

Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams

17.61% Powerplay (26th) and 79.04% Penalty Kill (18th)

PP1: Eichel, Dadonov, Marchessault, Theodore

PP2: Roy, Karlsson, Stephenson, Pietrangelo, Coghlan

PK1: Karlsson, Roy, Hague, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Leschyshyn, Coghlan, Whitecloud

Injured Reserve/COVID-19 Protocols/Scratches/Taxi Squad

Alec Martinez (face), Mark Stone (back), Mattias Janmark (upper-body), Brayden McNabb (hand), Brett Howden (lower-body), Reilly Smith (knee), Robin Lehner (lower-body), Max Pacioretty (unknown), Ben Hutton (COVID-19 protocols), Daniil Mirmanov (face), Paul Cotter (scratched)

Projected Winnipeg Jets Line Combinations

Paul Stastny- Mark Schiefele- Blake Wheeler

Kyle Connor- Pierre-Luc Dubois- Nikolaj Ehlers

Andrew Copp- Adam Lowry- Kristian Vesalainen

Jansen Harkins- Dominic Toninato- Evgeny Svechnikov

Josh Morrissey- Dylan DeMelo

Brenden Dillon- Neal Pionk

Logan Stanley- Nate Schmidt

Connor Hellebuyck/Eric Comrie

Winnipeg Jets Special Teams

21.58% Powerplay (13th) and 76.84% Penalty Kill (21st)

PP1- Wheeler, Dubois, Connor, Scheifele, Morrissey

PP2- Copp, Lowry, Stastny, Pionk, Ehlers

PK1- Lowry, Harkins, Morrissey, DeMelo

PK2- Toninato, Copp, Stanley, Dillon

Injured Reserve/COVID-19 Protocols/Scratches

Bryan Little, Cole Perfetti, Dylan Samberg, Nathan Beaulieu

How to Watch/Listen

5:00 pm on At&t Sportsnet, ESPN+, and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.