The Vegas Golden Knights will look to keep their season-opening point streak going when they host the Montreal Canadiens tonight at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas (8-0-1) is coming off a 4-3 shootout win against the Kings after losing 4-3 in overtime to Chicago the night before.
Montreal (5-2-1), too, enters tonight’s game on the heels of a 4-3 shootout victory, as the Habs defeated the Jets for their second consecutive win and fifth of the season. The Canadiens have won four of their last five games and currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division with 11 points.
Montreal is averaging 3.13 goals per game, which ranks 16th in the NHL; the Canadiens have given up an average of 3.25 goals per game (21st). By contrast, Vegas has averaged 3.67 goals per game (seventh) and has surrendered an average of 2.22 (third).
Cole Caufield leads the Canadiens in scoring with four goals and eight points. Sean Monahan is having a bit of a resurgence and is tied for first on the team in goals (four) and tied for second in points (seven), matching captain Nick Suzuki, who has one goal and six assists. Twenty of 22 Montreal skaters have recorded a point this season.
The Golden Knights swept the season series against the Canadiens last year. Vegas is 5-2-3 all-time against Montreal.
2022-23 season series recap
Game 13 of 82: Vegas @ Montreal (6-4 VGK)
Vegas held a 2-1 lead after two, but that was erased when former Golden Knights first-round draft pick Suzuki scored 56 seconds into the third. That was the first of a combined seven goals — three of which came on the man-advantage — between the two clubs in a wild final frame. The Golden Knights scored the next three, making it 5-2 less than 10 minutes in. The teams traded power-play tallies, but the Golden Knights were able to maintain a multi-goal lead until the end. The Vegas power play went 2-for-4, and Vegas’ fourth line accounted for two goals. For Montreal, Suzuki scored twice, Caulfield tallied a goal and an assist and Kaiden Guhle recorded three points.
Game 63 of 82: Vegas vs. Montreal (4-3 VGK)
Ivan Barbashev scored his first two goals with the Golden Knights, the first of which came on a perfect passing sequence with Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault.
Reilly Smith and William Karlsson teamed up for another fantastic passing play to give Vegas a 3-0 lead through two periods.
The Golden Knights made things interesting in the third, giving up a goal 23 seconds after taking a 4-1 lead and then giving up another goal 35 seconds later. Bruce Cassidy called a rare timeout to settle things down, which proved to be enough for the Golden Knights to hold on for the win.
Special teams report
Power play
Vegas: 21.9 percent (7-for-32) — 12th overall
Montreal: 22.6 percent (7-for-31) — 11th overall
Penalty Kill
Vegas: 88.0 percent (22-for-25) — 8th overall
Montreal: 75.6 percent (31-for-41) — 21st overall
Goalie matchup
Montreal
Jake Allen* has gotten four out of eight starts for Montreal this season and has yet to lose in regulation, going 3-0-1 with a 2.63 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. He is 2-3-3 (3.60 GAA, .876 SV%) all-time against Vegas. He recorded identical save percentages of .857 in both games against the Golden Knights last year, yielding four goals in both contests and stopping 60 of 70 shots.
Sam Montembeault is 2-1-0 with a 3.29 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in three starts. He is 0-1-1 all-time against Vegas with a combined 4.11 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in three appearances.
Vegas
Adin Hill* turned aside 27 of 31 shots for an .871 save percentage in Vegas’ 6-4 win against Montreal last season (Jonathan Quick got the other start). Hill is 4-0-1 with a 2.16 goals-against average and .915 save percentage in five starts this season. He is 2-1-1 (2.35 GAA, .916 SV%) all-time against Montreal.
Logan Thompson is 4-0-0 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .930 save percentage this year; he has yet to face the Canadiens in his career.
*Likely starter
Keys to the game
Better start
Montreal has scored five goals in the first period this season, which is good for 27th overall in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have surrendered eight tallies in the opening frame, which ranks 24th. The Golden Knights got off to a quick start against Chicago on Friday but faded down the stretch and paid the price for it. Their early success this season makes it difficult to find patterns of concern, but there’s no doubt Vegas has been inconsistent in the opening frame and in the first two periods in general. This has forced Vegas to rely heavily on strong efforts in the third period to either overcome a deficit or hold on to a slight lead. Both have been problematic despite the results.
Since the first three games of the season (all 4-1 wins), Vegas has been in a tie or trailing going into the third period in five out of six games (the lone exception was the 5-3 win in Winnipeg, which is highlighted in bold below).
- VGK vs. DAL — Teams tied 1-1 after two — Vegas won 3-2 in a shootout
- VGK @ WPG — Vegas led 3-2 after two — Vegas surrendered that lead but won 5-3
- VGK @ CHI — Teams tied 2-2 after two — Vegas scored early in the third, won 5-3
- VGK vs. PHI — Vegas trailed 2-1 after two — Vegas scored twice in the third, won 3-2
- VGK vs. CHI — Teams tied 2-2 after two — Vegas lost in overtime
- VGK @ LAK — Teams tied 2-2 after two — Vegas blew a late lead but won 4-3 in a shootout
Taking a multi-goal lead into the third period isn’t exactly a reasonable expectation, but being fortunate to be tied or only down one goal after playing mediocre hockey is not a recipe for success. If the Golden Knights played in the first period (or first two) the way they have been in the third, every game wouldn’t need to come down to the wire and be somewhat of a toss-up down the stretch.
Go to the net
Allen has surrendered 11 total goals in four games this season; nine of those 11 have come from around the crease and below the hashmarks. That’s not unusual, but as you can see from the graphics below (courtesy of NHL EDGE), Allen is facing a higher shot volume from this area than the league average (left), and he’s taking care of shots from the majority of the rest of the zone (middle).
Allen hasn’t lost in regulation, and he’s saved 6.11 goals above expected, which ranks sixth overall in the NHL. Vegas will need to get traffic to the net. The Golden Knights excel when they’re aggressive on the forecheck, screen the goalie and get bodies and pucks to the net. Those tactics haven’t been employed on a consistent basis; instead, Vegas disappears for stretches or looks for the perfect pass. But greasy goals are about effort, and that may be the way to beat Allen and Montreal.
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
Nicolas Hague — Brayden Pachal
Adin Hill
Logan Thompson
Injured: Nicolas Roy (IR), Zach Whitecloud (LTIR)
Canadiens
Cole Caufield — Nick Suzuki — Rafael Harvey-Pinard
Josh Anderson — Alex Newhook — Juraj Slafkovsky
Tanner Pearson — Sean Monahan — Brendan Gallagher
Michael Pezzetta — Jake Evans — Joel Armia
Mike Matheson — Johnathan Kovacevic
Kaiden Guhle — Justin Barron
Jordan Harris — Arber Xhekaj
Jake Allen
Sam Montembeault
Injured: Christian Dvorak (LTIR), Kirby Dach (IR), David Savard (IR)
How to watch
Game 10: Golden Knights vs. Canadiens
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena — Las Vegas, NV
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM