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Golden Knights look to extend winning streak as they wrap up homestand against Ducks

The Vegas Golden Knights will look to open the 2024-25 season with a 3-0-0 record when they host the Anaheim Ducks Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The Golden Knights are 2-0-0 after an 8-4 win against Colorado and a 4-3 win against St. Louis.

The Ducks will be skating in the second half of a back-to-back tonight in Vegas after winning their season opener on Saturday, a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Lukas Dostal recorded a 30-save shutout, with Isac Lundestrom and Trevor Zegras lighting the lamp for the Ducks. The fourth line had a strong game, with Lundestrom netting the game-winner.

The Ducks have a number of talented young players in the lineup, including former second overall pick, Leo Carlsson, as well as Cutter Gauthier, who was selected fifth overall by Philadelphia in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Gauthier was traded to Anaheim last season after refusing to play for the Flyers.

This is the first Pacific Division opponent of the season for Vegas.

Surprisingly, the Golden Knights only won one of four meetings against Anaheim last season. After taking the first game with a 4-1 win, Vegas lost three straight, including the regular-season finale, a 4-1 decision.

Overall, however, Vegas holds a 23-7-1 all-time record against the Ducks.

Frank Vatrano, who led the Ducks in goals last season with 37, scored four goals and six points in last year’s season series against Vegas. Mason McTavish scored two goals and five points in three games, while defenseman Cam Fowler recorded five assists in the matchup.

Jack Eichel potted three goals and five points in four games, while Shea Theodore scored a goal and added three helpers against his former team.

In their season opener, the Ducks went 0-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. Through two games, Vegas is 2-for-5 (40 percent) on the power play and 3-for-5 (60 percent) on the penalty kill.

Vegas needs to continue to generate dangerous looks and scoring chances on the man-advantage. Though the Golden Knights did not convert against St. Louis, they hit the post twice and moved the puck well. The power play could be a major factor for Vegas this year, particularly given the roster turnover.

But the story of the Golden Knights’ season thus far has been the outstanding play of the top line, with Eichel (1-5—6), Ivan Barbashev (3-3—6) and Mark Stone (2-3—5) combining for 17 points in two games.

The fourth line also has played well, and while Victor Olofsson scored twice against Colorado, the middle six remains “a work in progress,” according to head coach Bruce Cassidy.

Eventually, the plan will be to break up the top line, which was only put together because of the injury to William Karlsson. Though Cassidy did not have any news regarding a possible return date for Karlsson, he did indicate that he expects to restore balance to the lines upon his return.

“One of the reasons we won two years ago is because of that depth and drivers on each line, because we spread the wealth,” Cassidy said. “At the end of the day, it would probably change down the road to get a little more equity on every line. But until we sort out some of what our new players bring, then it’s hard to do. At least [the top] line, we know what we’re getting out of those players because we know them well.”

Part of the “sorting through” involves getting more out of the second line of Tomas Hertl, Pavel Dorofeyev and Alexander Holtz, which has been particularly quiet. In 21:55, the trio has a 37.04 percent Corsi share and 37.17 percent expected goal share while being outshot 9-4 and generating zero high-danger chances.

Netminder Ilya Samsonov is set to make his Golden Knights debut tonight. After trading Logan Thompson, Vegas signed Samsonov to a one-year, $1.8 million contract this past summer.

Samsonov went 23-7-8 with a 3.13 goals-against average, .890 save percentage and three shutouts last year with Toronto. He is 2-0-0 with a 1.44 goals-against average, .952 save percentage and one shutout in two career games against Anaheim.

Though the Golden Knights have scored 12 times, they’ve given up seven goals in two games. But Cassidy does not believe Vegas has played poor defensively, they just need to shake off some of the rust and be stronger on the puck.

“That’s just getting into hockey mode here,” he said. “The more games you play, I think the harder you’ll end up being. And that’s why each game, as we went along, I think we got a little better in those areas, just getting the reps under your belt.”

Vegas will look to continue to improve as they wrap up this season-opening three-game homestand.


Projected lines

Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev — Tomas Hertl — Alexander Holtz
Brett Howden — Nicolas Roy — Victor Olofsson
Tanner Pearson — Cole Schwindt — Keegan Kolesar

Shea Theodore — Alex Pietrangelo
Noah Hanifin — Nicolas Hague
Brayden McNabb — Zach Whitecloud

Ilya Samsonov
Adin Hill

Injured: William Karlsson

Ducks
Cutter Gauthier — Leo Carlsson — Alex Killorn
Robby Fabbri — Mason McTavish — Trevor Zegras
Frank Vatrano — Ryan Strome — Troy Terry
Brock McGinn — Isac Lundestrom — Brett Leason

Cam Fowler — Tristan Luneau
Olen Zellweger — Radko Gudas
Pavel Mintyukov — Brian Dumoulin

James Reimer
Lukas Dostal

Injured: John Gibson, Jackson Lacombe


How to watch

Game 3: Golden Knights vs. Ducks
When: 7 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena — Las Vegas, NV
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM

Statistics courtesy of HockeyReference and NHL.com.