Misfits Unite! Karlsson and Marchessault Together Again; Vegas Golden Knights vs. Calgary Flames Preview

The Vegas Golden Knights begin a three-game Canadian road trip against the Calgary Flames on Monday night. The Golden Knights have been shut out in three of their last six games, including Saturday evening in Vegas against the Arizona Coyotes. The Golden Knights need to find some scoring this week north of the border.

Betting line: STN Sports has the Golden Knights as a small favorite at -120 with an over/under of six. The public is on the side of the Golden Knights at a 69%-31% ratio. It should raise a flag when the public favors one side heavily and the betting line remains close. On the other side of the coin, this is the dreaded first game back from the road trip for the Flames. Will the Flames be able to get things going in the first period?

About the Golden Knights (14-5-2, 30 points): Coach Bruce Cassidy is looking for a spark and mixing up the lines. Chandler Stephenson will be on the wing with Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. William Karlsson will reunite with misfit Jonathan Marchessault and Ivan Barbashev on the other wing. Will Cassidy’s line blender produce goals?

Someone needs to put this team on their shoulders offensively. If the team can not get the scoring going, someone needs to have a goal like Paul Cotter got against the Philadelphia Flyers last month. It does not matter where the scoring comes from and who does it. Someone needs to carry the mail with the team in a scoring drought.

Expected Lines

Stephenson-Eichel-Stone
Barbashev-Karlsson-Marchessault
Cotter-Roy-Amadio
Carrier-Howden-Kolesar

McNabb-Whitecloud
Hague-Pietrangelo
Hutton-Korczak

Hill

About the Flames (8-10-3, 19 points): The Flames have given up 74 goals this season which ranks tied for 6th worse overall on the season. Simply put, the Golden Knights have to find a way to hang three or more goals tonight. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom is 5-7-2 with a .901 SV% and 2.93 GA/G. Goaltenders Markstrom, Dan Vladar, and Dustin Wolf combine for a .892 SV% and 3.38 GA/G average.

Golden Knights to watch: Marchessault and Karlsson together on a line will be fun to watch. We were treated to those two on the same pairing briefly for game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. The Golden Knights scored nine goals that night. Brett Howden, Paul Cotter, William Carrier, and Keegan Kolesar combine for just nine goals on the season and have been quiet as of late. The teams scorers are not scoring and their depth scorers are also not scoring. This would be a great spot for Kolesar to put one in the back of the net.

Key storylines: 
Time: 6:30 p.m. PST.
TV: Vegas 34 (Scripps Sports)
Streaming: KnightTime+
Radio: FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340