Golden Knights Gameday 80: THIS IS IT! Lines, Notes vs Stars

The Vegas Golden Knights (42-31-6, 90 points) will play their most important game of the season Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars (44-30-5, 93 points). With just three games remaining on the season, the Golden Knight’s only hope of making it into the Stanley Cup Playoffs is to snag one of the two Wild Card spots in the Western Conference. The Stars currently have the second WC spot.

A huge blow came to the Golden Knight’s playoff chances Sunday when they lost in the shootout to the San Jose Sharks. With this extra point lost to the Sharks, the Golden Knights need to not only win out the remainder of their schedule but get help from other teams in the league. If the Golden Knights lose this game they will be all-but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.

“We obviously know what is at stake here. But in a lot of ways, we have to approach this just like every other game. If you let that get in your head too much you start gripping the stick a little too tight and I think it is necessary to have a good balance,” said Golden Knights defenseman Alec Martinez.

No relevant games were on Monday night so here is an updated look at the VGK’s playoff odds.

The Golden Knights will be without both Robin Lehner and Keegan Kolesar for the remainder of the regular season. Lehner will undergo shoulder surgery and see his season come to an end. Jiri Patera has been called up under roster emergency exemption as the Golden Knights have just $615,000 in cap space and are not

Kolesar is listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Dylan Coghlan will suit up Tuesday as a seventh defenseman.

Keys To The Game

Leave Everything On The Ice

It should go without saying at this point but again, this is the most important game of the season for the Golden Knights. It is do-or-die time and if they lose this game their season is practically over.

“It’s a big game, it’s a playoff game so everyone is excited and a little bit nervous, I think we are going to show up and play hard,” said Golden Knights forward Will Carrier.

60 Minute Game

Yes, the Golden Knights need to play a cliche ‘sixty-minute game’ and play to the final whistle. But they need to play exactly sixty minutes, no overtime as it would give the Stars another point in the standings.

“It’s going to be a tight game out there. No one is going to give an inch, so I think you’re just battling for these little plays, those puck battles, and once you are out there it is a lot different game,” said Carrier.

Super Stars

The Dallas Stars have an absolute powerhouse line this season of Joe Pavelski, Jason Robertson, and Roope Hintz who currently attribute for 45% of the Stars’ goals scored. Shutting them down will be huge for the Golden Knight’s defense. Especially Pavelski, a former Shark who loves to score big goals.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Mattias Janmark- Jack Eichel- Evgenii Dadonov

Max Pacioretty- Chandler Stephenson- Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson- Michael Amadio

William Carrier- Nicolas Roy- Dylan Coghlan*

Ben Hutton– Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Shea Theodore

Alec Martinez- Zach Whitecloud

Logan Thompson/Jiri Patera

Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams

17.79% Powerplay (24th) and 77.72 % Penalty Kill (21st)

PP1: Pacioretty, Eichel, Stone Dadonov, Theodore

PP2: Roy, Karlsson, Marchessault, Stephenson, Pietrangelo

PK1: Karlsson, Janmark, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Roy, Martinez, Whitecloud

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

Robin Lehner (shoulder), Reilly Smith (knee), Laurent Brossoit (undisclosed), Nicolas Hague (lower-body), Brett Howden (upper-body), Nolan Patrick (undisclosed), Keegan Kolesar (lower-body).

Projected Dallas Stars Line Combinations

Jason Robertson- Roope Hintz- Joe Pavelski

Michael Raffl- Jamie Benn- Tyler Seguin

Joel Kiviranta- Radek Faksa- Luke Glendening

Fredrik Karlstrom- Vladislav Namestnikov- Denis Gurianov

Ryan Suter- Miro Heiskanen

Esa Lindell- John Klingberg

Thomas Harley- Jani Hakanpaa

Jake Oettinger/Scott Wedgewood

Dallas Stars Special Teams

22.32% Powerplay (12th) and 79.44% Penalty Kill (15th)

PP1- Pavelski, Hintz, Namestnikov, Robertson, Klingberg

PP2- Benn, Seguin, Gurianov, Suter, Heiskanen

PK1- Faksa, Glendening, Lindell, Hakanpaa

PK2- Hintz, Raffl, Suter, Heiskanen

Injured Reserve/COVID-19 Protocols/Scratches

Braden Holtby, Anton Khudobin

How to Watch/Listen

5:30 pm on At&t Sportsnet, ESPN+, and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.