The Vegas Golden Knights will attempt to rebound against the Minnesota Wild after they were defeated badly by the Edmonton Oilers.
The Golden Knights entered Saturday’s affair against the Oilers with lots of momentum after beating the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. They were the better team against the Jets, carrying the play and winning 3-2 in overtime.
The Oilers opened the scoring late in the first period with a power play goal by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The second period was where things went sour for the Golden Knights, giving up four unanswered goals before Victor Olofsson and Ivan Barbashev got the Golden Knights on the board. Brett Howden scored early into the third period before Jeff Skinner halted the Golden Knights’ comeback.
This afternoon’s game the Wild will be another difficult test. Kirill Kaprizov is playing like a Hart Trophy candidate, with 20 goals and 45 points in 29 games. The Wild allow this least amount of goals per game but struggle on the penalty kill. Generating offence at 5-on-5 might be a daunting task today but the Golden Knights’ fifth-ranked power play can make up for that offence.
The Golden Knights are just two points clear of the Los Angeles Kings and three of the Oilers. Games like today’s are tough, but if the Golden Knights want to win the Pacific Division, they need to find a way to come out with the two points.
Ilya Samsonov will battle with Filip Gustavsson, who is third among all goaltenders in save percentage and goals against average.
Golden Knights projected lines:
Barbashev-Eichel-Stone
Howden-Karlsson-Dorofeyev
Olofsson-Hertl-Holtz
Pearson-Roy-Kolesar
McNabb-Theodore
Hanifin-Pietrangelo
Hague-Whitecloud
Samsonov
Hill
Wild’s projected lines:
Kaprizov-Rossi-Zuccarello
Johansson-Hartman-Boldy
Foligno-Gaudreau-Jones
Lauko-Khusnutdinov-Johnson
Brodin-Faber
Chisholm-Spurgeon
Merill-Bogosian
Gustavsson
Fleury
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