The Vegas Golden Knights are in Seattle tonight for the first of two games to be played against the Kraken. The Golden Knights enter tonight with a record of 36-28-4 (76 points), and are 4-6-0 over their last 10 games played, including a pair of back-to-back wins. Seattle is in the midst of winding down their first season in the league and currently has a record of 21-39-6 (48 points), and is 4-5-1 over the last 10 games played.
The failed Evgenii Dadonov trade could potentially help the Golden Knights in their playoff push, as he’s tallied five points in the two games played since officially returning to the lineup. He’s also scored in four consecutive games and has a line of 5-3-8 over that span.
Vegas will continue to look for contributions from Dadonov, but they will also need their remaining top players to be productive. Jack Eichel has now appeared in 20 games with the Golden Knights, and thus far he’s tallied a line of 7-7-14, including goals in back-to-back games.
It is understandable that Eichel was going to need some time to acclimate back to NHL action following neck surgery, and the Golden Knights would love it if he could go on a tear at a pace of over a point per game during the final stretch of games. Seattle is one of the league’s weaker teams, and this matchup represents an opportunity for Eichel to start his breakout.
Standings Update
Vegas remains on the outside looking in, and they trail the Dallas Stars by one point, and the Stars have three games in hand. St. Louis currently occupies the first Wild Card spot, and they lead Dallas by four points having played the same amount of games.
The Golden Knights also trail the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the division by three points. Edmonton’s played 67 games thus far, and tonight will be Vegas’ 69th of the season. A win vs. Seattle and an Edmonton loss to the Los Angeles Kings would put Vegas one point behind with the Oilers holding two games in hand.
Tonight is the third game that Vegas will play against the Kraken this season. Vegas defeated the Kraken 4-3 way back on October 12, and again on November 9 by a score of 4-2. After tonight, the Golden Knights’ next game will be on Friday again vs. Seattle.
With that said, here are the projected lines for both squads which are subject to change.
Vegas Golden Knights
Forwards
Evgenii Dadonov — Jack Eichel — Chandler Stephenson
Jonathan Marchesault — William Karlson — Mike Amadio
Mattias Janmark — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Jonas Rondbjerg — Jake Leschyshyn — Pavel Dorofeyev
Defense
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton — Alex Pietrangelo
Alec Martinez — Zach Whitecloud
Goaltender
Logan Thompson
Seattle Kraken
Forwards
Ryan Donato— Alex Wennberg — Jordan Eberle
Victor Rask — Yanni Gourde — Karson Kuhlman
Jared McCann— Morgan Geekie — Kole Lind
Daniel Sprong — Riley Sheahan — Joonas Donskoi
Defense
Vince Dunn — Adam Larsson
Carson Soucy — Jamie Oleksiak
Derrick Pouliot — Will Borgen
Goaltender
Chris Driedger
Team Stats via NHL dot com
Enjoy the game!