The Vegas Golden Knights (13-3-1) continue their Eastern Conference road trip (1-1-0) with a back-to-back in Pennsylvania, starting with this morning’s (10 a.m. PT) tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers (8-7-1).
The Golden Knights have lost three of their last five games in regulation but are coming off a wild 6-5 win against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Golden Knights will look to start a winning streak when they take on the Flyers in part three of their five-game road swing. Vegas has not won consecutive games since the first two contests of the month — a 5-2 win against Winnipeg and a 7-0 win over the Avalanche — two weeks ago.
The Flyers enter the matchup as winners of three straight, including a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes earlier this week. Philadelphia is in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division with 17 points.
Flyers at Golden Knights (Oct. 24, 2023) — Final: 3-2 Vegas
These teams met in Vegas last month in what ended up being a thrilling finish for the Golden Knights, who trailed 2-1 after two periods but ultimately scored the game-winner in the final minute of regulation to extend their season-opening winning streak to seven games.
Ivan Barbashev’s second goal of the year gave Vegas a 1-0 lead just under seven minutes into the game, but the Flyers scored two goals in the span of 4:12 late in the opening frame. After a scoreless second period, the Golden Knights fought back with a strong effort in the third. In fact, it was the fourth straight game in which Vegas had to score a late equalizer or the game-winning goal in the third period.
First, Paul Cotter made it a 2-2 game just over 12 minutes in. Though the contest seemed destined for extra time, Shea Theodore delivered some of his hallmark late-game heroics with the game-winner with just 33 seconds on the clock.
But the Golden Knights have mixed results against the Flyers historically, with an all-time record of 6-5-0, including a 3-2-0 record at Wells Fargo Center. That being said, Vegas has won the last three meetings after losing both games in the 2021-22 campaign.
Travis Konecny leads the Flyers in goals with 10 and is tied for the team lead in scoring with 14 points in 16 games; in his comeback campaign, Travis Sanheim also has 14 points, including two goals and a team-high 12 helpers. Cam Atkinson has eight goals, and Joel Farabee and Owen Tippett each have six. Sean Couturier has 11 points in 14 games, while Scott Laughton (10) rounds out the list of players with 10-plus points.
The Flyers are scoring 3.19 goals per game, which is good for 19th overall in the NHL (Vegas ranks seventh with an average of 3.59). The Flyers sit just outside the top-10 with an average of 2.94 goals against per game (11th overall); the Golden Knights have the third-best rate of 2.35.
Special teams report
Power play
Vegas: 24.1 percent (14-for-58) — 9th overall
Philadelphia: 7.6 percent (4-for-53) — 30th overall
Penalty kill
Vegas: 86.8 percent (46-for-53) — 5th overall
Philadelphia: 80.4 percent (41-for-51) — 14th overall
In the crease
Golden Knights
Logan Thompson
Record: 5-2-0
GAA: 2.27
SV%: .925
Adin Hill
Record: 8-1-1
GAA: 2.07
SV%: .928
Shutouts: 2
Logan Thompson and Adin Hill will split the back-to-back this weekend. However, based on the rotation Vegas has used throughout the season, and considering Hill has played three of the last four games, Thompson could get the nod on Saturday. Thompson stopped 26 of 28 for a .929 save percentage against Philadelphia earlier this season.
Flyers
Carter Hart
Record: 5-3-0
GAA: 2.34
SV%: .921
Shutouts: 1
The Flyers likely will turn to Carter Hart, who has played very well this season. He stopped 26 of 29 for an .897 save percentage in the Oct. 24 clash against the Golden Knights but was the reason that game even came down to the wire. He missed two weeks before backstopping the Flyers to the 3-1 win against Carolina on Wednesday. Hart is 2-2-1 all-time against Vegas.
Keys to the game
Stay the course: The Golden Knights didn’t get the results they wanted in Washington but generated plenty of scoring chances. They did the same against Montreal, which led to six goals. Clearly, the Golden Knights need to tighten things defensively after giving up five goals, but the win against the Canadiens was another example of the Golden Knights finding a way to win, which they weren’t able to do in three of their previous four contests. That being said, Vegas’ puck management needs to be much better. This is not a game the Golden Knights can sleep on; the Flyers are in a rebuild and are icing young players, but they outwork their opponents and have enough skill to challenge Vegas.
Win with special teams: The Golden Knights won the game in Montreal thanks to special teams. They scored three goals on the power play (three consecutive goals in the game, including two in the span of under a minute late in the third period), and they added a shorthanded goal early in the second. Vegas’ penalty kill has been fantastic all season, and it will be going up against a putrid Philadelphia power play. But if the Golden Knights can continue to build momentum on the power play, it will serve them well this afternoon as well as moving forward.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault
Brett Howden — Michael Amadio — Mark Stone
Paul Cotter — William Karlsson — Pavel Dorofeyev
William Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton — Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Injured: Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Hague
Flyers
Tyson Foerster — Sean Couturier — Travis Konecny
Owen Tippett — Morgan Frost — Cam Atkinson
Joel Farabee — Ryan Poehling — Scott Laughton
Nicolas Deslauriers — Noah Cates — Garnet Hathaway
Travis Sanheim — Cam York
Nick Seeler — Sean Walker
Marc Staal* — Louie Belpedio
Carter Hart
Samuel Ersson
Injured: Rasmus Ristolainen, Ryan Ellis
*If Staal is not ready to return, Egor Zamula likely will be on the third pairing
How to watch
Game 18: Golden Knights at Flyers
When: 10 a.m. PT
Where: Wells Fargo Center — Philadelphia, PA
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM