The Vegas Golden Knights (17-7-1, 35 points) are on the road once again tonight where they will face the Detroit Red Wings (11-6-5, 27 points). Detroit is having a very solid season to date, and both them and the Golden Knights are looking to bounce back from a loss. The Golden Knights are 4-5-1 over their last 10, and the Red Wings are 4-3-3. This is the first of two meetings, and the next contest will convene at T-Mobile Arena on January 19th.
The Golden Knights head into this game with an offense that has generated 3.40 goals per game (10th-best in NHL), and only surrendering 2.68 goals against per game (7th-best in NHL). Their power play has an efficiency rating of 21.9% which is 17th in the NHL as of this writing.
Detroit currently sits 16th in the league with a 3.23 goals per game average, and 16th with a 3.09 goals against average. In terms of special teams, their power play is clicking at 20.5% which is slightly better than Vegas’ performance of 21.0%.
When it comes to killing penalties, Vegas’ rating of 74.6% pales in comparison to the Red Wings’ rate of 80% which is 10th-best in the league.
Players of Note
Detroit Red Wings
Leading Scorer: Dylan Larkin — 9-16-25 in 22 GP
Top Goal Scorer: Dylan Larkin and Dominik Kubalik — 9 goals
Best Goalie: Ville Husso — 9-3-3, .912 SV%, 2.58 GAA
Vegas Golden Knights
Leading Scorer: Jack Eichel — 12-16-28 in 25 GP
Top Goal Scorer: Jack Eichel — 12 goals
Best Goalie: Logan Thompson —12-5-0, .920 SV%, 2.54 GAA
With those out of the way, here is a projected lineup for both sides.
Vegas Golden Knights
Chandler Stephenson — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith
Paul Cotter — Mike Amadio— Phil Kessel
Will Carrier — Jake Leschyshyn — Keegan Kolesar
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Nic Hague — Alec Martinez
Ben Hutton — Zach Whitecloud
Logan Thompson
Detroit Red Wings
Dominik Kubalik — Dylan Larkin — David Perron
Pius Suter — Michael Rasmussen — Lucas Raymond
Adam Erne — Andrew Copp — Oskar Sundqvist
Jonatan Berggren — Joe Veleno — Austin Czarnik
Ben Chiarot — Moritz Seider
Olli Maatta — Filip Hronek
Jake Walman — Jordan Oesterle
Ville Husso
Feel free to use this as an open thread to discuss the game.