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Golden Knights Gameday 24: Swag Like Ohio: Lines and Notes vs Blue Jackets

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Vegas Golden Knights Columbus Blue Jackets AWAY

After two straight losses at home, the Vegas Golden Knights (16-6-1, 33 points) embark on a four-game road trip Monday that starts against the Columbus Blue Jackets (7-12-1, 15 points) at 4:00 p.m.

For whatever reason, the Golden Knights have struggled against the Blue Jackets. They are 3-5-0 all-time and have only won one game at Nationwide Arena on Nov. 5, 2019.

The VGK are coming off of what can easily be considered their worst game of the season, a 5-1 Saturday night loss to the Vancouver Canucks. Two straight losses have reset the individual point streaks of Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Alex Pietrangelo. However, Shea Theodore still carries a five-game point streak.

Earlier in the season, the Golden Knights shot up to the top of the Pacific Division standings with nine straight wings. A big catalyst in their success was their perfect five-game road trip.

Now back on the road and with the Seattle Kraken chasing them by four points, the Golden will look to improve on their 9-1-1 road record.

UPDATE: Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will miss this afternoons game due to personal reasons. Ben Hutton is expected to slot in.

What to Watch For

“The Road is Calling”

With their 9-1-1 road record, the Golden Knights currently have the best road record in the NHL. They are 7-5-0 at home this season. Getting on the road could perhaps be the fix for the VGK’s recent slump.

“Maybe that’s what we need; we seem to be able to produce better on the road than at home for whatever reason. So the road is calling us, so let’s hope we were able to do that,” said Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy.

If you can recall back to last season, a horrendous 0-5 Eastern Conference road trip greatly damaged the team’s chances of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The VGK will hope to flip the script this season.

Get Goalies Going

After two rough home losses, essentially everyone on the Golden Knights roster needs to regroup and find their game again. This can be said for both goaltenders, Logan Thompson and Adin Hill.

Thompson has let in 10 goals in his last three starts, and Hill eight in his last two.

As you can see, our goaltending numbers have leveled off from the start of the year. We figured out that would happen eventually. These are two young guys. So there’s a little adversity there that they have to (work through). We knew that would come,” said Cassidy.

With a young goalie tandem, both the Golden Knight’s defense and the goaltenders themselves need to up their game and re-establish it to where it was early on in the season.

Re-Ignite the Stars

On the topic of getting players going again, the Golden Knight’s top line of Chandler Stephenson, Mark Stone, and Jack Eichel has been held off the scoresheet these last two games.

Obviously, having these three find their game and get back to the elite level that we all know they can play at is something that will crucially benefit the VGK.

Going back to his days when he played in the Eastern Conference, Eichel has a career 17 points in 17 games against the Blue Jackets.

Milestones

A couple of milestones are of note tonight. Brayden McNabb will play in career game no. 600. Will Carrier will play in his 300th career game with the Golden Knights, and Mark Stone will play his 200th.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Chandler Stephenson- Jack Eichel– Mark Stone (c)

Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson– Reilly Smith

Paul Cotter- Nicolas Roy- Phil Kessel

William Carrier- Jake Leschyshyn- Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez- Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague- Zach Whitecloud

Brayden McNabb- Ben Hutton

Logan Thompson/Adin Hill

Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stone, Eichel, Stephenson, Marchessault, Pietrangelo

PP2: Howden, Karlsson, Smith, Kessel, Theodore

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Stone, Martinez, Whitecloud

IR/Scratches

Alex Pietrangelo/Brett Howden/Michael Amadio, Ben Hutton

Projected Blue Jackets Line Combinations

Johnny Gaudreau- Boone Jenner (c)- Gus Nyquist

Yegor Chinakhov- Cole Sillinger- Carson Meyer

Kent Johnson- Jack Roslovic- Trey Fix-Wolansky

Eric Robinson- Sean Kuraly- Mathieu Olivier

Vladislav Gavrikov- Marcus Bjork

Jake Christiansen- Erik Gudbranson

Gavin Bayreuther- Andrew Peeke

Joonas Korpisalo/Daniil Tarasov

Blue Jackets Special Teams

PP1- Jenner, Roslovic, Johnson, Gaudreau, Bjork

PP2- Nyquist, Sillinger, Fix-Wolansky, Chinakhov, Gavrikov

PK1- Kuraly, Robinson, Gavrikov, Peeke

PK2- Jenner, Nyquist, Bayreuther, Gudbranson

IR/Scratches

Alexandre Texier/Adam Boqvist, Justin Danforth, Jakub Voracek, Zach Werenski, Nick Blankenburg,  Patrik Laine, Elvis Merzlikins, Jake Bean/Liam Foudy, Tim Berni, Billy Sweezey

How to Watch/Listen

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