Golden Knights Gameday 46: Rebound: Lines and Notes vs Red Wings

The Vegas Golden Knights (28-15-2, 58 points) are coming off their first shutout loss of the season and will attempt to rebound Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings (18-17-8, 44 points). Both William Carrier and Mark Stone are not expected to play for the VGK. Adin Hill is expected to start.

This is the second and final game of the seasons series between these two teams. The VGK won on Dec. 3rd by a score of 4-1, the same game that Jack Eichel was injured in. The Golden Knights are 4-3-1 all-time against the Red Wings.

Reminder- If you are attending the game tonight, be wary of traffic due to the I-15 Tropicana Project.

What to Watch For

Get Jack Back

Since his return from injury, Jack Eichel has struggled, especially in the last two VGK losses. The forward is -5 in these last two games against the Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers. With key players such as Mark Stone and Shea Theodore out of the lineup, Eichel needs to step up for the VGK.

"There's gonna be ups and downs throughout the course of a season. Nobody plays 82 games straight perfectly. It's frustrating; we want to be better. But, you know, we learn from these games and figure out what you need to do better as a group,” said Eichel.

New Lines

Injuries and inconsistency have resulted in head coach Bruce Cassidy shuffling up his line combinations once again. Jack Eichel is now with Chandler Stephenson and Phil Kessel, the  Misfits remain united, and Paul Cotter has taken over Will Carrier's spot on the fourth line.

Cassisy stated that he will continue to adjust his lines to better fit which opponent they are playing.

"With guys out (we say) okay, what's our next game, how do they play, and will this be a better line (against that team)? Saturday might be completely different. We've put Stevie (Chandler Stephenson) in the middle, and we have put him on the wing. I know he prefers to play center. But maybe this line combination against a team, we might get more rush opportunities," said Cassidy. 

Oh Hey, Perron

It will be very strange to see former Golden Knight David Perron in a Detroit Red Wings uniform this evening. We say this not because we think he should still be a VGK, but because Perron was the closest thing the St. Louis Blues have had to a Mr. Blue since Alex Steen.

He has 30 points in 43 games this season and a total of 14 points in 18 games against the Golden Knights.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Chandler Stephenson- Jack Eichel- Phil Kessel

Reilly Smith- William Karlsson- Jonathan Marchessault

Jonas Rondbjerg- Byron Froese- Micheal Amadio

Paul Cotter- Nicolas Roy- Keegan Kolesar

Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Kaedan Korczak

Alec Martinez- Ben Hutton

Adin Hill/Logan Thompson

Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stephenson, Marchessault, Smith, Eichel, Pietrangelo

PP2: Cotter, Karlsson, Kessel, Roy, Hutton

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Roy, Hague, Hutton

IR/Scratches

Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner/Mark Stone, Will Carrier, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev, Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud, Daniil Miromanov

Projected Red Wings Line Combinations

Tyler Bertuzzi- Dylan Larkin- Lucas Raymond

Michael Rasmussen- Andrew Copp- David Perron

Robby Fabbri- Pius Suter- Dominik Kubalik

Oskar Sundqvist- Joe Veleno- Jonathan Berggren

Jake Walman- Mo Seider

Ben Chiarot- Filip Hronek

Olli Maatta- Gus Lindstrom

Ville Husso/Magnus Hellberg

Red Wings Special Teams

PP1- Bertuzzi, Larkin, Raymond, Berggren, Seider

PP2- Perron, Fabbri, Kubalik, Hronek, Walman

PK1- Copp, Rasmussen, Maatta, Hronek

PK2- Larkin, Suter, Chiarot, Seider

IR/Scratches

Filip Zadina, Matt Luff, Mark Pysyk/Alex Nedeljkovic, Jakub Vrana, Adam Erne, Robert Hagg, Jordan Oesterele

How to Watch/Listen

7:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+ and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.