Golden Knights Gameday 13: Sept Victoires Consécutives?: Lines and Notes vs Canadiens

Looking for seven straight wins, the Vegas Golden Knights (10-2-0, 20 points) are in the City of Saints for a 4:00 p.m. matchup with the Montreal Canadiens (5-5-1, 11 points).

The Golden Knights enter, having won not only six straight but have beaten both the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators on their current five-game road trip. No lineup changes are expected for the VGK outside of a potential goalie swap, as Adin Hill has not played in six days.

Bruce Cassidy says there is "a bit of a flu going around the team" right now. We'll see if that affects any lineup decisions tonight v Montreal #VegasBorn

— Owen Krepps (@OKrepps85) November 5, 2022

The Canadiens are coming off a four-game road trip where they went 2-1-1. They are floating around .500 early in the season and are expected to be a non-playoff team once more. Mike Hoffman and Joel Edmundsson will return to their lineup Saturday evening.

What to Watch For

Chute de score de Marchessault

After scoring five goals and six points in the first six games of the season, Jonathan Marchessault has zero goals in his last six games. Perhaps in his home province, Marchy can get out of his scoring slump.

Keeping Tabs on Habs

The Montreal Canadiens have quote- “waaaaaaay too many forwards,” according to our Montreal guy Marco D’Amico. As the Canadiens look to rebuild, they will likely shed a couple of forwards at the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline, if not sooner.

With the Golden Knights in need of some scoring depth at the wing, general manager Kelly McCrimmon might be paying extra attention to specific players on the Canadiens. Sean Monahan, Jonathan Drouin, Mike Hoffman, Christian Dvorak, and former Golden Knight Evgenii Dadonov could all be available.

Caufield and Suzuki

Two players that are certainly not available are Cole Caufield and former Golden Knights draft pick, Nick Suzuki. Combined, they have contributed over 40% to the team’s offense. Watching them like a hawk and shutting them down defensively will be key for the Golden Knights.

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 Canadiens Line Combinations

Cole Caufield- Nick Suzuki- Kirby Dach

Josh Anderson- Christian Dvorak- Brendan Gallagher

Jonathan Drouin- Sean Monahan- Mike Hoffman

Juraj Slafkovsky- Jake Evans- Joel Armia

Kaiden Guhle- David Savard

Joel Edmundson- Jordan Harris

Arber Xhekaj- Chris Wideman

Jake Allen/Sam Montembeault

Canadiens Special Teams

PP1- Dach, Monahan, Suzuki, Caufield, Drouin

PP2- Gallagher, Dvorak, Slafkovsky, Hoffman, Wideman

PK1- Evans, Pitlick, Guhle, Savard

PK2- Suzuki, Monahan, Harris, Wideman

IR/Scratches

Carey Price, Evgenii Dadonov, Mike Matheson, Paul Byron/Micheal Pezzetta, Rem Pitlick, Jonathan Kovacevic

How to Watch/Listen

4:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+, and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.