Golden Knights Gameday 69: (Nice): Lines and Notes vs Flames

The Vegas Golden Knights (42-20-6, 90 points) return home tonight at 7:00 p.m. to play the Calgary Flames (30-24-14, 74 points) in a critical matchup in the stretch run leading up to the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

No lineup changes are expected for the Golden Knights and Jonathan Quick is expected to start. The VGK return home for a brief two-game homestand after they collected eight out of possible ten points on their last road trip.ca

What to Watch For

Pacific Push

It should go without saying that tonight's game is of critical importance to the standings and leadup to the playoffs. The Calgary Flames are fighting for just a shot at a Wild Card spot as they are currently five points behind the Winnipeg Jets for that position. The Golden Knights, who are first in the Pacific and now ahead of the Los Angeles Kings by three points, can put a big dent in the Flames playoff hopes tonight.

NO-OT

Given the inter-divisional matchup, the Golden Knights want to finish this one in regulation. But the Flames have went to overtime and loss a league high 14 times, which is a big reason why they are still alive in the push for the playoffs.

TDL Juice

The Golden Knights have been getting great contributions from their trade deadline aquistions Ivan Barbashev, Teddy Blueger, and Jonathan Quick so far. Both Barbashev and Blueger scored in the team's most recent win against the Flyers and Quick has yet to lose a game with the VGK.

Projected Golden Knights Line Combinations

Ivan Barbashev- Jack Eichel- Jonathan Marchessault

Reilly Smith- William Karlsson- Pavel Dorofeyev

Paul Cotter- Chandler Stephenson- Phil Kessel

Brett Howden- Teddy Blueger- Michael Amadio

Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Shea Theodore

Alec Martinez- Zach Whitecloud

Jonathan Quick/Jiri Patera

Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Amadio, Smith, Stephenson, Eichel, Theodore

PP2: Marchessault, Barbashev, Karlsson, Kessel, Pietrangelo

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Blueger, Whitecloud, Martinez

IR/Scratches

Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner/Mark Stone (c), Logan Thompson, Laurent Brossoit, Will Carrier, Keegan Kolesar, Adin Hill/Ben Hutton

Projected Flames Line Combinations

Jakob Pelletier- Elias Lindholm- Tyler Toffoli

Jonathan Huberdeau- Nazem Kadri- Dillon Dube

Andrew Mangiapane- Mikael Backlund- Blake Coleman

Milan Lucic- Adam Ruzicka- Walker Duehr

Mackenzie Weegar- Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin- Chris Tanev

Nikita Zadorov- Troy Stetcher

Jacob Markstrom/Dan Vladar

Flames Special Teams

PP1- Backlund, Lindholm, Pelletier, Toffoli, Andersson

PP2- Dube, Kadri, Mangiapane, Weegar, Huberdeau

PK1- Backlund, Coleman, Hanifin, Tanev

PK2- Lindholm, Dube, Weegar, Andersson

IR/Scratches

Olivier Kylington, Michael Stone/Trevor Lewis, Nick Ritchie, Dennis Gilbert, Kevin Rooney

How to Watch/Listen

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