Golden Knights Gameday 10: Hallows Eve: Lines and Notes vs Jets

It’s Halloween eve, and the Vegas Golden Knights (7-2-0, fourteen points) play the Winnipeg Jets (5-3-0, ten points) Sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. The Golden Knights haven’t officially announced any festivities for Halloween, but if you are in the festive spirit, wear your appropriate Halloween costume to the game!

This is the last Golden Knight’s home game until Nov. 12, as they will be on a five-game road trip starting Tuesday against the Washington Capitals.

After missing Friday’s game due to illness, Keegan Kolesar, who practiced Saturday, will likely return. The Golden Knights did not hold practice today, with today’s game being at 5:00 p.m. As a result, we will have to wait until warmups to find out who the team’s starting goaltender will be against the Jets.

What to Watch For

Start Time: The Golden Knights play their second straight game at a unique time Sunday. For Friday’s Nevada Day game, they played at 3:00 p.m. Today they play at 5:00 p.m. Head coach Bruce Cassidy spoke Saturday on how this could have an effect on players’ preparation for the games.

“I think 5:00 is an odd time. Guys typically prepare meetings in the morning, skate, and have a little nap, and then it’s 7:00. So 5:00 can screw up your day, huh? So it’s the same for both teams, so we’ll see how it plays out,” said Cassidy.

Goalie Duel: The health of Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson’s 29-save shutout Friday has moved the Golden Knight’s goaltending story along in an interesting way. There is a chance Adin Hill could play Sunday and get a start.

Despite the injury news regarding Robin Lehner, the Golden Knight’s inexperienced goaltending duo has been just fine. They lead the league in save percentage currently with a .940 sv%.

Blocking Shots: A thing that is flying under the radar is the Golden Knight’s ability to block shots early on this season. Under Cassidy’s systems, they are forcing players to the outside and making life easier on both Hill and Thompson.

Alec Martinez (39) is currently second in the league in blocked shots, behind only David Savard (40). Brayden McNabb is seventh with 24 in nine games.

“We’ve grasped the systems pretty good early. Defensively we’ve been pretty good,” said Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Chandler Stephenson- Jack Eichel- Mark Stone (c)

Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson– Reilly Smith

Michael Amadio- Brett Howden- Phil Kessel

William Carrier- Nicolas Roy- Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague- Zach Whitecloud

Logan Thompson/Adin Hill

Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stone, Eichel, Stephenson, Marchessault, Pietrangelo

PP2: Roy, Karlsson, Smith, Kessel, Theodore

PK1: Roy, Stephenson, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Karlsson, Stone, Martinez, Whitecloud

IR/Scratches

Laurent Brossoit/Jake Leschyshyn, Paul Cotter, Ben Hutton

Projected Jets Line Combinations

Kyle Connor- Pierre-Luc Dubois- Mason Appleton

Cole Perfetti- Mark Scheifele- Blake Wheeler

Morgan Barron- Adam Lowry- Sam Gagner

Axel Jonsson-Fjallby- David Gustafsson- Saku Maenalanen

Josh Morrissey- Neal Pionk

Brenden Dillon- Nate Schmidt

Dylan Samberg- Dylan DeMelo

Connor Hellebuyck/David Rittich

Jets Special Teams

PP1- Wheeler, Dubois, Connor, Scheifele, Morrissey

PP2- Gagner, Lowry, Perfetti, Pionk, Schmidt

PK1- Lowry, Appleton, Dillon, DeMelo

PK2- Gustafsson, Barron, Pionk, Schmidt

IR/Scratches

Nikolaj Ehlers/Dominic Toninato, Logan Stanley, Kyle Capobianco

How to Watch/Listen

5:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN, and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.