GAME THREAD — Game 4/82: Vegas Golden Knights at Washington Capitals

The Golden Knights enter tonight’s contest against the Washington Capitals having lost twice as many games as they have won. Vegas (1-2-0) is in the nation’s capital to take on the NHL’s Capitals, who are 1-0-1 after two.

Obviously, this is the much-anticipated rematch between the Knights and Capitals from the Stanley Cup Final, which ended in five games when the Capitals won four straight for the honor to hoist Lord Stanley’s beloved trophy.

This is a new year, but this game feels a little more personal than the rest.

Heading into the game, T.J. Oshie leads all players with three goals and five points through two games. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson and Brooks Orpik (yes, Brooks Orpik) all have multiple points, while the only Vegas players who have found the scoresheet more than once are Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson.

With Paul Stastny out of the lineup with a lower-body injury (that will keep him out at least through the end of the road trip, if not longer), Tomas Nosek is set to move up to the second line to skate with Erik Haula and Max Pacioretty, while Cody Eakin will make his season debut as he returns from injury.

For Washington, Dmitrij Jaskin will make his Capitals debut after getting claimed off waivers from the Blues; he will take the fourth-line slot previously belonging to Nathan Walker. On the back end, Michal Kempny will make his season debut, while Madison Bowey will watch from the press box.

Here are the projected lineups for both teams:

Golden Knights
Marchessault — Karlsson — Reilly Smith
Pacioretty — Haula — Nosek
Oscar Lindberg — Eakin — Ryan Carpenter
William Carrier — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb — Colin Miller
Shea Theodore — Deryk Engelland
Jon Merrill — Nick Holden

Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban

Capitals
Ovechkin — Kuznetsov — Brett Connolly
Jakub Vrana — Backstrom — Oshie
Andre Burakovsky — Lars Eller — Chandler Stephenson
Jaskin — Nic Dowd — Devante Smith-Pelly

Dmitry Orlov — Matt Niskanen
Kempny — Carlson
Orpik — Christian Djoos

Braden Holtby
Pheonix Copley

Come discuss the game with us!