The Vegas Golden Knights (16-5-5) will square off against the St. Louis Blues (13-10-1) as the two clubs wrap up their home-and-home tonight in St. Louis.
The Blues defeated Vegas 2-1 in overtime Monday night at T-Mobile Arena thanks to a stellar performance by goaltender Jordan Binnington, who frustrated the Golden Knights all evening.
Vegas had a plethora of high-quality scoring chances but failed to execute, particularly in the first period. Jack Eichel’s equalizer late in the third helped Vegas extend its point streak to five games (2-0-3), but the Golden Knights will look to come away with both points in tonight’s rematch.They are now first in the NHL in goals against per game with an average of just 2.31.
The Blues are a much better team at home, which will make things challenging for Vegas; St. Louis is 7-3-3 at Enterprise Center and 6-7-1 on the road. However, St. Louis has the worst penalty kill on home ice (66.7 percent) compared to the third-best on the road (88.2 percent).
Vegas, meanwhile, has gone 12-for-46 on the power play on the road (26.7 percent) compared to 8-for-46 at home (17.4 percent). That should give the Golden Knights a better matchup on special teams in tonight’s contest.
In general, though, the Golden Knights won’t look to make many changes to their game plan, aside from taking better advantage of their opportunities.
Vegas is now 13-9-2 in the all-time matchup against St. Louis, including 5-6-0 at Enterprise Center.
By the numbers
Vegas Golden Knights
Overall record: 16-5-5
Last 10 games: 4-2-4
Road record: 7-3-3
Goals for: 3.08 (18th)
Goals against: 2.31 (1st)
Power play: 21.7 percent (t-13th)
Penalty kill: 86.7 percent (5th)
Points leaders: Eichel (11-17—28), William Karlsson (11-12—23), Mark Stone (7-14—21)
Goals leaders: Eichel (11), Karlsson (11), Jonathan Marchessault (11)
St. Louis Blues
Overall record: 13-10-1
Last 10 games: 5-5-0
Home record: 7-3-0
Goals for: 2.88 (t-22nd)
Goals against: 3.04 (15th)
Power play: 9.9 percent (31st)
Penalty kill: 78.7 percent (18th)
Points leaders: Robert Thomas (8-16—24), Pavel Buchnevich (9-10—19), Jordan Kyrou (4-11—15)
Goals leaders: Buchnevich (9), Jake Neighbours (9), Thomas (8), Brayden Schenn (8)
Coming in hot
Since both of these players scored critical goals for their clubs Monday night, they’re worth highlighting again. However, Binnington was the most important player on the ice and could very well be a significant factor again tonight.
Pavel Buchnevich (STL) — Buchnevich continues to be red-hot. He scored the game-winning goal in overtime Monday night in Vegas and has eight goals and 16 points in his last 13 games, including three goals and eight points in his last six.
Jack Eichel (VGK) — Eichel scored the only goal for Vegas in Monday’s loss; the clutch marker allowed the Golden Knights to come away with a point. Eichel has goals in three straight games and a total of eight points in his last four contests. He continues to be noticeable everywhere on the ice, whether he’s making a perfect pass from behind the goal line, releasing a snipe from the slot, hustling on the backcheck or drawing penalties in the neutral zone.
In the crease
Golden Knights
Logan Thompson — Record: 6-3-3 | GAA: 2.33 | SV%: .919 | SO: 0
Thompson played well Monday against St. Louis, turning aside 25 of 27 shots for a .926 save percentage. He gave up two goals; one was a screened deflection in front, the other was a one-on-one against the other team’s hottest player. He has played well enough to win despite not always getting the win this season; Vegas will need him to be solid once again tonight, especially since the Golden Knights’ defensive numbers are better on home ice.
Blues
Jordan Binnington — Record: 8-6-1 | GAA: 3.04 | SV%: .901 | SO: 1
Binnington robbed Golden Knights skaters repeatedly Monday night. According to MoneyPuck, he saved 4.18 goals above expected; prior to the game, he had 4.76 goals saved above expected for the entire season. He also shut down Vegas’ 16 high-danger shots and finished the game with 33 saves on 34 shots for a .971 save percentage.
Keys to the game
Strong start: Just like Monday’s game, a strong start is critical for the Golden Knights. Vegas had everything but the finish in the first period, but scoring the first goal against St. Louis is a borderline necessity, at least based on the Blues’ season thus far. Following Monday’s game, the Blues are 12-0-0 when scoring first and 1-10-1 when giving up the first goal.
Binn there, done that: The Golden Knights have to capitalize on their chances. Binnington was fantastic the other night, but Vegas cannot allow him to be otherworldly once again. The Golden Knights had countless opportunities; now they just need to bury some.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Paul Cotter — William Karlsson — Jonathan Marchessault
Brett Howden — Chandler Stephenson — Michael Amadio
William Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Ben Hutton — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Kaedan Korczak
Nicolas Hague — Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson
Jiri Patera
Blues
Pavel Buchnevich — Robert Thomas — Jake Neighbours
Kevin Hayes — Brayden Schenn — Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad — Oskar Sundqvist — Kasperi Kapanen
Alexei Toropchenko — Nikita Alexandrov — Sammy Blais
Nick Leddy — Colton Parayko
Torey Krug — Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella — Scott Perunovich
Jordan Binnington
Joel Hofer
How to watch
Game 27: Golden Knights at Blues
When: 6 p.m. PT
Where: Enterprise Center — St. Louis, MO
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM
Statistics courtesy of NHL.com and MoneyPuck
(Photo of Ivan Barbashev, Jordan Binnington: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports)