Tonight the Vegas Golden Knights (25-15-3, 53 points) take on the Florida Panthers (29-9-5, 63 points) at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida. The Golden Knights are coming off a hard-fought overtime loss against the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Panthers are fresh off a 5-3 victory vs. the Winnipeg Jets.
The Golden Knights came back from a two-goal deficit twice vs. the Canes, and head into tonight’s game vs. the Panthers almost at full strength as a team. Head coach Pete DeBoer spoke with the media earlier today, and had this to say about the state of the team.
Pete DeBoer says the team’s “health is heading in the right direction,” and said they had 5 lines and 7 defensemen on the ice for morning skate today, which is probably the most they’ve had all year.
He didn’t specify on Pacioretty or Martinez’s availability for tonight.
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) January 27, 2022
Without factoring in either Pacioretty or Martinez, here’s a projected lineup for the Golden Knights.
Forwards
Evgenii Dadonov — Chandler Stephenson — Mark Stone
Mike Amadio — William Karlsson — Jonathan Marchessault
Will Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Mattias Janmark
Brett Howden — Nolan Patrick — Keegan Kolesar
Defense
Nic Hague — Alex Pietrangelo
Shea Theodore — Zach Whitecloud
Brayden McNabb — Dylan Coghlan
Goaltenders
Robin Lehner
Laurent Brossoit
And here’s how the Florida Panthers should stack up.
Forwards
Carter Verhaeghe — Aleksander Barkov — Maxim Mamin
Jonathan Huberdeau — Sam Bennett — Anthony Duclair
Mason Marchment — Anton Lundell — Sam Reinhart
Ryan Lomberg — Eetu Luostarinen — Owen Tippett
Defense
Mackenzie Weegar — Aaron Ekblad
Brandon Montour — Radko Gudas
Lucas Carlsson — Chase Priskie
Goaltenders
Spencer Knight
Sergei Bobrovsky
Numbers to Know
- Vegas is 4-3-3 over the last 10 games played
- Florida is 7-2-1 over the last 10 games played
- The Panthers are a league best 21-3-0 at home
- The Golden Knights have the eighth best road record at 12-5-1/
- Jonathan Huberdeau leads the Panthers in scoring with a line of 16-42-58
- Spencer Knight has posted a -6.49 Goals Saved Above Average, and a -8.53 Goals Saved Above Expected via Evolving-Hockey/
Feel free to use the comments section as an open thread to talk about the game.