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Preview: Golden Knights Head to Denver to Take on Avalanche

Posted on by Tom Urtz Jr.

The Vegas Golden Knights (25-12-2, 52 points) are on the road tonight to take on the Colorado Avalanche (19-13-3, 41 points) and look to win a second game in a row. The Golden Knights defeated the Nashville Predators 5-4 on New Year’s Eve, and enter tonight behind the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference standings.

Golden Knights Defeat Predators in 5-4 OT Thriller

Colorado has been bitten by the injury bug pretty badly this season, and they will look to capitalize against a Golden Knights squad that is missing some players of note.

The Golden Knights head into this game with an offense that has generated 3.28 goals per game (11th-best in NHL), and only surrendering 2.82 goals against per game (11th-best in NHL). Their power play has an efficiency rating of 25.2% which is 8th in the NHL as of this writing, and a penalty killer efficiency rating of 77% which is 19th overall.

The Avs sit 25th in the league with a 2.91 goals per game average, and 12th with a 2.83 goals against average. In terms of special teams, their power play is clicking at 26.3% which is 7th in the NHL, and their PK is 20th overall with an efficiency rate of 75.4%.

Players of Note

Colorado Avalanche

Leading Scorer: Mikko Rantanen — 24-21-45 in 35 games

Top Goal Scorer: Mikko Rantanen — 24 goals in 35 games

Best Goalie: Alexandar Georgiev — 15-8-3, .915 SV%, 2.66 GAA

Vegas Golden Knights

Leading Scorer: Chandler Stephenson — 10-29-39 in 39 games

Top Goal Scorer: Reilly Smith — 18 goals in 39 games

Best Goalie: Logan Thompson — 17-9-1, .915 SV%, 2.64 GAA

Here are the projected lines for both sides.

Vegas Golden Knights

Mike Amadio — Chandler Stephenson — Mark Stone

Reilly Smith — William Karlsson — Phil Kessel

Will Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar

Jonas Rondbjerg — Jake Leschyshyn — Sheldon Rempal

Nic Hague — Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb — Daniil Miromanov

Ben Hutton — Brayden Pachal

Logan Thompson

Colorado Avalanche

Artturi Lehkonen — Nathan MacKinnon — Mikko Rantanen

Evan Rodrigues — JT Compher — Logan O’Connor

Andrew Cogliano — Ben Meyers — Denis Malgin

Kurtis MacDermid — Alex Newhook — Jacob MacDonald

Devon Toews — Cale Makar

Samuel Girard — Erik Johnson

Andreas Englund — Brad Hunt

Alexandar Georgiev

Feel free to use this as an open thread to discuss the game.

Talking Points