ICYMI, Nate. Schmidt. Is. Back.
Schmidt will make his season debut after serving a 20-game suspension, and the Golden Knights will welcome him back with open arms.
Vegas travels to Edmonton to take on Connor McDavid and the Oilers, who are coming off a disappointing 4-2 loss in which they blew a two-goal lead. The Oilers are 9-9-1 on the season, good for fifth in the Pacific Division and 10th in the Western Conference. They recently acquired Ryan Spooner from the Rangers in exchange for Ryan Strome; Spooner made his Oilers debut last night.
The Knights (8-11-1) are coming off a disappointing loss of their own, though it was a particularly deflating effort considering Vegas arguably played its best game of the season just a few days earlier. But the Knights must continue to fight to get back to .500 before truly thinking about turning the season around.
McDavid will be more than a handful, though, as he scored two goals and eight points in four games against Vegas last season. It’s a good thing Schmidt made the trip.
Here are tonight’s projected lineups:
Golden Knights
Marchessault — Karlsson — Smith
Pacioretty — Eakin — Tuch
Nosek — Carpenter — Hyka
Carrier — Bellemare — Reaves
Theodore — Schmidt
Miller — McNabb
Engelland — Holden
Fleury
Subban
Oilers
Caggiula — McDavid — Draisaitl
Spooner — Nugent-Hopkins — Rattie
Lucic — Marody — Chiasson
P. Russell — Khaira — Kassian
Klefbom — Larsson
Nurse — Benning
Gravel — K. Russell
Talbot
Koskinen
Let’s discuss!