The Vegas Golden Knights (22-9-1, 45 points) are back home tonight at T-Mobile Arena to take on the New York Islanders (17-13-1, 35 points). The Islanders are in Vegas, in the 2nd game of a back-to-back, having lost on Friday vs. the Arizona Coyotes. The Golden Knights are fresh off a win over the Chicago Blackhawks, and look to extend their winning streak to 3 in a row.
The Golden Knights head into this game with an offense that has generated 3.31 goals per game (11th-best in NHL), and only surrendering 2.69 goals against per game (7th-best in NHL). Their power play has an efficiency rating of 24.4% which is 10th in the NHL as of this writing.
Tonight they will have Alex Pietrangelo back in the lineup, and that will be a big lift for the squad.
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New York sits 15th in the league with a 3.19 goals per game average, and 10th with a 2.84 goals against average. In terms of special teams, their power play is clicking at 21.1 which is 21st in the NHL.
When it comes to killing penalties, Vegas’ rating of 74.1% is 24th in the league, and the Isles are killing penalties at a rate of 82.1% which is 6th-best in the league. A big strength of the Islanders defensively is their last line of defense Ilya Sorokin. He is one of the league’s top goaltenders, and someone who is currently considered a favorite to win the Vezina Trophy even though his hot start has cooled off a bit. He played on Friday and isn’t expected to start tonight though.
Players of Note
New York Islanders
Leading Scorer: Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal — 31 points in 31 games
Top Goal Scorer: Brock Nelson — 14 goals in 31 games
Best Goalie: Ilya Sorokin — 10-10-0, .921 SV%, 2.50 GAA
Vegas Golden Knights
Leading Scorer: Jack Eichel — 13-16-29 in 27 GP (on Injured Reserve)
Top Goal Scorer: Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith — 14 goals in 32 games
Best Goalie: Logan Thompson — 14-7-0, .918 SV%, 2.62 GAA
Here are the projected lines for both sides.
Vegas Golden Knights
Phil Kessel — Chandler Stephenson — Mark Stone
Reilly Smith — William Karlsson — Jonathan Marchessault
Jonas Rondbjerg — Jake Leschyshyn — Mike Amadio
Will Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Nic Hague — Alec Martinez
Brayden McNabb — Daniil Miromanov
Ben Hutton — Alex Pietrangelo
Logan Thompson
New York Islanders
Andres Lee — Mathew Barzal — Oliver Wahlstrom
Josh Bailey — Brock Nelson — Anthony Beauvillier
Zach Parise — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Kyle Palmieri
Matt Martin — Casey Czikas — Cal Clutterbuck
Robin Salo — Ryan Pulock
Alexander Romanov — Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho — Noah Dobson
Semyon Varlamov
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