GAMEDAY THREAD 38/82: Montreal Canadiens at Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights will look to win their seventh straight game on home ice as they host the Montreal Canadiens this afternoon at T-Mobile Arena.

It’s disappointing that Max Pacioretty will miss this one, but it could be an important contest for Tomas Tatar, who returns to Vegas for the first time since getting dealt this offseason.

The Canadiens (18-13-5) are coming off a 2-1 road win against the Coyotes and will have Carey Price patrolling the crease; Price is 14-10-4 with a 2.84 goals-against average and .905 save percentage this season. Expect the well-rested (wink, wink) Marc-Andre Fleury to get the nod for Vegas.

The big news ahead of today’s game is that the Golden Knights will keep the top line split up, with Alex Tuch expected to start on the top line with William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault while Reilly Smith will get another look with Paul Stastny and Brandon Pirri.

The Canadiens recently changed up their lines as well. For the second game in a row, Andrew Shaw and Tatar will join Jesperi Kotkaniemi on the third line, while Artturi Lehkonen moves up to the top line to skate with Max Domi and Jonathan Drouin. Paul Bryon will get a shot on the second line with Phillip Danault and Brendan Gallagher.

Update: Oscar Lindberg will be a healthy scratch.

Here are the projected lineups for both clubs:

Golden Knights
Marchessault — Karlsson — Tuch
Pirri — Stastny — Smith
Nosek — Eakin — Carpenter
Carrier — Bellemare — Reaves

McNabb — Schmidt
Theodore — Engelland
Holden — Hunt

Fleury
Subban

Canadiens
Drouin (#92) — Domi (#13) — Lehkonen (#62)
Byron (#41) — Danault (#24) — Gallagher (#11)
Tatar (#90) — Kotkaniemi (#15) — Shaw (#65)
Agostino (#47) — Chaput (#43) — Deslauriers (#20)

Benn (#8) — Weber (#6)
Reilly (#28) — Petry (#26)
Mete (#53) — Kulak (#17)

Price (#31)
Niemi (#37)

ICYMI, check out the preview for today’s game.

Let’s discuss!