The Vegas Golden Knights will hit the road for the first time in the 2023-24 season when they take on the San Jose Sharks tonight at SAP Center. It will be the Sharks’ season opener.
The Golden Knights are 10-0-3 at SAP Center and hold an all-time record of 20-2-5 against the Sharks. However, Vegas went 2-1-1 in the season series last year.
The Golden Knights are coming off an emotional 4-1 win against the Seattle Kraken. Vegas raised its Stanley Cup Champions banner and followed it up with a win; four different players lit the lamp, and seven players found the scoresheet.
It wasn’t a perfect game, but the Golden Knights exhibited many of the same traits that contributed to their remarkable 2023 Stanley Cup run: Adin Hill was fantastic, the Golden Knights capitalized on their chances, the penalty kill was outstanding and Vegas found a way to win.
“Just keep building your game; it’s one game at a time,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said about tonight’s game against the Sharks. “We’re a long way from where we want to be. We played well enough to win the other night, did some things well, did some things we want to correct, and that’s what we do every game. Hopefully it looks a little better tonight.”
Vegas will be without forwards Brett Howden and William Carrier tonight. Howden was suspended for two games for his high hit to the head of Kraken forward Brandon Tanev early in the third period of Tuesday’s game. He will be eligible to return to the lineup for Tuesday’s game against the Dallas Stars.
Carrier, meanwhile, suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury in the season opener. He left the bench during the second period and did not return; he did not travel with the team.
Pavel Dorofeyev will make his season debut skating on the third line with William Karlsson and Michael Amadio, while Paul Cotter will move up to take Howden’s spot on the second line with Chandler Stephenson and Mark Stone.
The club recalled forward Jonas Røndbjerg from the Henderson Silver Knights; he will skate on the fourth line with Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar.
Alec Martinez and Zach Whitecloud remain out of the lineup.
Logan Thompson will make his season debut tonight. He went 21-13-3 with a 2.65 goals-against average, .915 save percentage and two shutouts last season but missed extensive time due to injury. This will be his first start since March 23.
Keys to the game
The Golden Knights will look for a better start tonight. It took the Golden Knights a little while to get going on Tuesday, but that was primarily due to the emotional pre-game ceremony. Now that the banner is raised and the Golden Knights have a title to defend, expect them to be hungry from the get-go.
Vegas also will look to be more disciplined. The Golden Knights took three minor penalties, and Howden’s match penalty put the Kraken on a five-minute major. The penalty kill went 4-for-4, but the Golden Knights will look to avoid the sin bin as they work to iron out the few wrinkles from Tuesday’s contest.
Projected lines
Golden Knights
Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter – Chandler Stephenson – Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev – William Karlsson – Michael Amadio
Jonas Røndbjerg – Nicolas Roy – Keegan Kolesar
Nicolas Hague – Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
Ben Hutton – Brayden Pachal
Logan Thompson
Adin Hill
Sharks
Mike Hoffman – Tomas Hertl – Filip Zadina
William Eklund – Mikael Granlund – Luke Kunin
Alexander Barabanov – Thomas Bordeleau – Anthony Duclair
Givani Smith – Nico Sturm – Fabian Zetterlund
Mario Ferraro – Kyle Burroughs
Marc-Edouard Vlasic – Matt Benning
Henry Thrun – Jan Rutta
Kaapo Kahkonen
MacKenzie Blackwood
How to watch
Game 1: Golden Knights vs. Sharks
When: 7:30 p.m. PT
Where: SAP Center – San Jose, CA
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM