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Vegas Golden Knights: Brendan Leipsic And Shea Theodore Draw Back In Lineup

By Richard Cardinale

TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 06: Vegas Golden Knights Right Wing Brendan Leipsic (13) in warmups prior to the NHL regular season game between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs on November 6, 2017 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 06: Vegas Golden Knights Right Wing Brendan Leipsic (13) in warmups prior to the NHL regular season game between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs on November 6, 2017 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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Heading into tonight’s game against Vancouver, the Vegas Golden Knights switched up their lineup a bit.

Vegas Golden Knights Head Coach Gerard Gallant has been pretty appreciative of his teams effort so far. If you told me before the season that the organizations top three goaltenders were going to go down and the expansion team was still going to be in second place in the Pacific division, I would’ve never believed you. Fortunately, that’s where we’re at today.

Gallant has got the whole roster buying into what he’s been selling for the entire season. Hard work, winning puck battles, playing smart and 60-minute hockey is what Gallant preaches. And when players start to exceed expectations, that’s when a winning formula comes into play.

The fourth line of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, William Carrier and Tomas Nosek has been a blessing for this team. This trio is the most consistent out of the four forward lines on the Vegas squad. They resemble exactly how Gallant wants to play. However, Gallant is making a change to that line at least for tonight’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.

Golden Knights forward Brendan Leipsic will dress tonight against the Canucks with Carrier taking a seat in the press box for the night. Leipsic hasn’t dressed and played since the game against the Toronto Maple Leafs ten days ago. I love the way Leipsic plays with his never quit mentality. Leipsic will slot in with Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin, while Oscar Lindberg will play a fourth line role with Bellemare and Nosek.

In addition, Gallant has also decided to switch up the defensive pairings a bit tonight. Last game, Jon Merrill played for an injured Luca Sbisa, and the coach didn’t like the result. Instead, we will see Shea Theodore in for Merrill. For a second there, I thought Theodore was never going to make it out of Coach Gallants doghouse!

Theodore’s slick puck movement is a nice change over the prototypical stay at home defenseman role. Theodore will give the power play a big boost after struggling the past game versus Edmonton. Theodore will pair with Deryk Engelland which I can definitely get behind. Having a rock of a defenseman like Engelland should only assist the 22-year-old with how he wants to play.

Next: Vegas Golden Knights Doomed By Terrible Start And Special Teams In Edmonton.

All in all, we’ll see how this lineup changes pan out tonight. Maxime Lagace will once again take the crease for the Vegas Golden Knights. Malcolm Subban is on the mend, but he’s not yet been cleared by medical personnel.  Puck drop at Rogers Arena is at 7 PM PT on AT&T Sportsnet.

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