The Vegas Golden Knights (9-0-1) will kick off the month of November with a home matchup against the Winnipeg Jets in the first of three games in the next four nights for Vegas.
The Golden Knights likely will be without Nicolas Hague in all three contests.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy said that Hague has “a lower-body injury from the other day, so he’s gonna be out for a little bit. I would suspect he’ll miss this weekend’s games, and then we’ll have a better idea next week.” However, Cassidy doesn’t expect Hague to miss “an extended period of time.”
Ben Hutton will replace Hague in the lineup on the left side of the third pairing.
The Golden Knights are coming off their ninth win of the season, which extended their season-opening point streak to 10 games.
However, it wasn’t Vegas’ best effort, which was not lost on the players.
“We’ve talked about it as a group; we can’t fool ourselves,” Alec Martinez said Wednesday after practice. “Our game is not where we want it to be. There’s a lot of things that we need to clean up. That’s inherent at the beginning of the year. That’s how the season goes. You don’t want to be playing your best hockey in [November]. You want to be building and consistently getting better throughout the year. While it has been a good start record-wise, I think guys are aware that there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
The Golden Knights had two days of practice to work on cleaning up some of the habits that have led to inconsistent efforts. Vegas will look to incorporate that into tonight’s matchup against the Jets.
“Hopefully we’re cleaner and play with more pace, starting from the goal line out,” Cassidy said.
The Jets are 4-3-2, good for third overall in the Central Division. Winnipeg is coming off back-to-back losses, one in the shootout and one in overtime. Prior to that, the Jets won three straight.
Mark Scheifele leads the team in scoring with four goals and eight points, while Josh Morrissey, Kyle Connor and Mason Appleton are tied for second with seven. Connor has a team-high five goals through nine games.
Connor and Scheifele lead the Jets in the all-time series against Vegas with 21 and 16 points, respectively.
The Golden Knights and Jets met in Winnipeg earlier this season; it was another tense third-period battle for Vegas, but Jack Eichel’s late power-play goal proved to be the game-winner.
The Golden Knights are 7-6-2 all-time against the Jets.
Special teams report
Power play
Vegas: 22.9 percent (8-for-35) — 11th overall
Winnipeg: 11.8 percent (4-for-34) — 27th overall
Penalty Kill
Vegas: 89.7 percent (26-for-29) — 6th overall
Winnipeg: 71.9 percent (23-for-32) — 28th overall
Goalie matchup
Vegas
Adin Hill: 5-0-1, 2.11 GAA, .923 SV%
Logan Thompson: 4-0-0, 2.21 GAA, .931 SV%
Winnipeg
Connor Hellebuyck: 4-2-1, 2.96 GAA, .898 SV%
Laurent Brossoit: 0-1-1, 3.38 GAA, .873 SV%
Keys to the game
Pace on the power play
The Golden Knights’ special teams have performed well this season, though the power play has grown “static,” as Cassidy said after yesterday’s practice. “Hopefully guys are a little more assertive with their decision-making on the power play [against the Jets].”
The Golden Knights relied on their power play in the Oct. 19 contest; Vegas went 2-for-2, scoring once in the first and once in the third.
The Golden Knights need to play with pace on the man-advantage if they want similar results tonight. That involves moving the puck more quickly, making confident passes and executing at a higher level. If nothing is open on the left side, for example, Eichel needs to move the puck to the point, send it behind the net or get it across the zone. Movement by the players and decisive movement of the puck opens seams and tires out the opponent; standing still and repeatedly passing the puck between two players significantly hinders Vegas’ chances of converting.
Shoot the puck
The Golden Knights were outshot 39-25 by the Canadiens and recorded a combined total of seven shots in the second and third periods, getting outshot 10-2 and 17-5, respectively. Some of that can be attributed to Montreal’s aggressive puck pursuit, but the Golden Knights passed on opportunities to get pucks to the net.
That’s something they can’t afford to do tonight against the Jets or moving forward.
The Golden Knights spent way too much time in their own end against the Canadiens. Montreal won battles and races and disrupted Vegas’ breakouts, thus stalling Vegas’ offense. The Golden Knights have to get back to their game, which involves a heavy forecheck and creating more sustained offensive pressure. Vegas may be good on the rush, but the Golden Knights won’t find success if they continue to generate one-and-done’s without setting up, cycling and capitalizing on rebounds.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter — Chandler Stephenson — Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev — William Karlsson — Michael Amadio
William Carrier — Brett Howden — Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton — Brayden Pachal/Kaedan Korczak
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Injured: Nicolas Hague, Nicolas Roy, Zach Whitecloud
Jets
Kyle Connor — Mark Scheifele — Alex Iafallo
Cole Perfetti — Vladislav Namestnikov — Nikolaj Ehlers
Nino Niederreiter — Adam Lowry — Mason Appleton
Morgan Barron — Rasmus Kupari — David Gustafsson
Josh Morrissey — Dylan DeMelo
Brenden Dillon — Neal Pionk
Dylan Samberg — Nate Schmidt
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Injured: Gabe Vilardi
How to watch
Game 11: Golden Knights vs. Jets
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena — Las Vegas, NV
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM