Golden Knights Gameday
Golden Knights Gameday 41: Jack’s Back: Lines and Notes vs Penguins
Reinforcements are inbound as the Vegas Golden Knights (26-12-2, 54 points) start a seven-game homestand tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins (19-12-6, 44 points). Forwards…
Reinforcements are inbound as the Vegas Golden Knights (26-12-2, 54 points) start a seven-game homestand tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins (19-12-6, 44 points). Forwards Jack Eichel and Paul Cotter are expected to return from injury for the Golden Knights, which gets the team's injury list down to seven players. Eichel missed eleven games with a lower-body injury, and Cotter eight with an upper-body injury.
This is the final game of the season series between the Penguins and Golden Knights. The Penguins won in Pittsburgh on Dec. 1st, 4-3.
The Penguins, who are coming off a Winter Classic loss to the Boston Bruins, are 1-4-2 in their last seven games. They are without both their top defensemen, Kris Letang, and starting goaltender Tristan Jarry. The Golden Knights are 3-6-0 all-time against the Penguins.
The Golden Knights will be hosting Pride Knight at the Fortress tonight. Special Pride jerseys will be worn by the team during warmups and will be auctioned off during the game on the Golden Knights Foundation's Website.
What to Watch For
Welcome Additions
Both Eichel and Cotter rejoin a depleted Golden Knights lineup who are in desperate need of scoring depth. Head coach Bruce Cassidy has shuffled up his line combinations in preparation for tonight's game by forming a new first line. Eichel will likely play with Reilly Smith and Nicolas Roy on the top line.
This allows the line of Michael Amadio, Chandler Stephenson, and Mark Stone to stay together. Stone is currently riding an eight-game point streak, and Amadio has a seven-game point streak.
Ending Droughts
Several players on the Golden Knights have ended goal-scoring droughts recently. Given injuries and the team's overall lack of depth, this has been crucial to the team's recent success. Ben Hutton ended a 29-game goal drought, Brayden McNabb a 45-game drought, Keegan Kolesar 19 games, Nicolas Hague 25 games, and Nicolas Roy most recently scored two goals to end a 17-game drought.
Vegas Born
Penguins forward Jason Zucker grew up in the Las Vegas area and will face off against his hometown team for the fifth time in his career tonight. He has three goals and three assists for six points against the VGK.
Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations
Reilly Smith- Jack Eichel- Nicolas Roy
Michael Amadio- Chandler Stephenson- Mark Stone (c)
Paul Cotter- William Karlsson- Phil Kessel
Will Carrier- Jake Leschyshyn- Keegan Kolesar
Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb- Kaedan Korczak
Ben Hutton- Brayden Pachal
Logan Thompson/Adin Hill
Golden Knights Special Teams
PP1: Stephenson, Stone, Smith, Eichel, Pietrangelo
PP2: Cotter, Karlsson, Kessel, Roy, Hutton
PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo
PK2: Stephenson, Stone, Hague, Hutton
IR/Scratches
Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner/Jonathan Marchessault, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev, Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud, Alec Martinez, Daniil Miromanov
Projected Penguins Line Combinations
Jake Guentzel- Sidney Crosby (c)- Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker- Evgeni Malkin- Rickard Rakell
Danton Heinen- Jeff Carter- Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling- Teddy Blueger- Brock McGinn
Marcus Pettersson- Jan Rutta
Brian Dumoulin- Ty Smith
Pierre-Olivier Joseph- Mark Friedman
Casey DeSmith/Dustin Tokarski
Penguins Special Teams
PP1- Rakell, Crosby, Guentzel, Smith, Malkin
PP2- Zucker, Carter, Rust, Kapanen, Joseph
PK1- Blueger, McGinn, Dumoulin, Rutta
PK2- Carter, Rust, Pettersson, Ruhwedel
IR/Scratches
Jeff Petry, Kris Letang, Tristan Jarry, Josh Archibald/Drew O'Connor, Mark Friedman
How to Watch/Listen
7:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+ and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.