Golden Knights Gameday 39: Noon Years Eve: Lines and Notes vs Predators

New Year's Eve on the Las Vegas Strip will be celebrated with the Vegas Golden Knights (24-12-2, 50 points) taking on the Nashville Predators (14-14-5, 32 points) at noon. The Strip will be shut down from traffic starting at 6:00 pm, which will be long after the Golden Knights game ends. RTC is also offering free bus rides on all of their routes from 6:00 pm to 9:00 am tomorrow morning. Celebrate responsibly tonight, everyone!

For the Golden Knights, they are looking to continue their perfect 3-0 New Year's Eve record against a Predators team that played last night. The Predators are coming off a 6-1 road win over the Anaheim Ducks, where Fillip Forsberg scored three points. Juuse Saros started for the Preds then, so Kevin Lankinen is expected to go against the Golden Knights.

Several lineup changes could be made for the Golden Knights. Both Paul Cotter and Jonathan Marchessault returned to practice on Friday, albeit in blue no-contact uniforms. Head coach Bruce Cassidy also stated that Alec Martinez could return as soon as this afternoon. Due to an injury to Pavel Dorofeyev, the Golden Knights have called up Sheldon Rempal from the Henderson Silver Knights. He is expected to slot in on the team's third line.

What to Watch For

No Repeat

The Predators, while much better in the overall standings, are an eerily similar team to the VGK's last opponent, the Anaheim Ducks. They have trouble scoring and thus win most of their games in close battles that result in extra time being played. They are third-last in goals scored (88) and goals per game (2.59) and are only behind the Ducks and Chicago Blackhawks in these categories.

However, they have the seventh-best save percentage combo, with Saros and Lankinen having a combined .911 sv%. The VGK will look to not have a repeat of the other night against the Ducks, where they put up over 50 shots on John Gibson, but only scored two goals.

Looking Glassy

Cody Glass, the first-ever Vegas Golden Knights draft pick, will be making his return to T-Mobile Arena for the first time since being traded. He'll likely get a small video tribute or acknowledgment for the 66 games he played as a VGK. Playing with Nino Niederreiter and Mikhael Granlund, Glass has five points in his last five games on the Predators' third line.

Fourth in Faceoffs

Predators forward Ryan Johansen has an impressive 61% faceoff win percentage which ranks him fourth in the league in faceoff percentage for players who have taken over 400 faceoffs. However, the Golden Knight's leading faceoff man is Chandler Stephenson, who is currently sitting at 61.5% at the dot.

Do You See What Josi

It's no secret that most of the Predators' offense runs through Norris Trophy defenseman, Roman Josi. The Swiss defenseman has 26 points over his last 26 games played and is 12th in defensive scoring this year with 27 points in 34 games.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Michael Amadio- Chandler Stephenson- Mark Stone (c)

Reilly Smith- William Karlsson- Phil Kessel

Jonas Rondbjerg- Jake Leschyshyn- Sheldon Rempal

Will Carrier- Nicolas Roy- Keegan Kolesar

Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Daniil Miromanov

Ben Hutton- Brayden Pachal

Logan Thompson/Adin Hill

Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stephenson, Stone, Smith, Amadio, Pietrangelo

PP2: Rempal, Karlsson, Kessel, Roy, Miromanov

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Stone, Hague, Hutton

IR/Scratches

Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner/Jack Eichel, Jonathan Marchessault, Paul Cotter, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev, Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud, Alec Martinez

Projected Predators Line Combinations

Filip Forsberg- Juuso Parssinen- Colton Sissons

Nino Niederreiter- Cody Glass- Mikael Granlund

Yakov Trenin- Ryan Johansen- Matt Duchene

Mark Jankowski- Thomas Novak- Tanner Jeannot

Ryan McDonagh- Roman Josi (c)

Mattias Ekholm- Alex Carrier

Jeremy Lauzon- Dante Fabbro

Kevin Lankinen/Juuse Saros

Predators Special Teams

PP1- Parssinen, Johansen, Novak, Forsberg, Josi

PP2- Duchene, Glass, Niederreiter, Granlund, Ekholm

PK1- Sissons, Jeannot, Lauzon, McDonagh

PK2- Smith, Trenin, Ekholm, Carrier

IR/Scratches

Michael McCarron/Mark Borowiecki/Mark Jankowski, Rolan McKeown

How to Watch/Listen

12:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+ and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.