Vegas Golden Knights: Cody Glass to get another audition against Kings

It will be another chance for the Vegas Golden Knights to blow off the cobwebs and gear up for October when they take on the LA Kings in their third game of the preseason tonight.

After opening up their slate of exhibition games with wins against the Arizona Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche this week, the Vegas Golden Knights hit the road tonight when they take to the ice at STAPLES Center to faceoff against the Kings.

As well as hoping to go 3-0-0 in the preseason, the main aim of the game tonight for the Golden Knights will be to continue to experiment with different line combinations, get a closer look at a flurry of rookies and ease more established stars back into the swing of things.

And we were given a couple of nuggets from Head Coach Gerard Gallant earlier, who confirmed to the media that Oscar Dansk will get the start between the pipes and rookie phenom Cody Glass will get another audition for an opening night roster spot.

What was perhaps most interesting was the fact that Gallant revealed Glass will play wing on a line featuring Cody Eakin and Alex Tuch, which could give us a glimpse of what is to come in the regular season.

By now it is becoming increasingly evident that Glass’ only chance of making the opening night roster is by cementing the third line left wing role his own, which means beating out stiff competition from Brandon Pirri, Tomas Nosek and Valentin Zykov who have all got off to strong starts in the preseason.

There is no doubt that the Golden Knights see Glass as a natural center long term but, for the immediate future at least, the young stud is going to have to get used to playing wing if he wants to make the leap to the NHL now.

So tonight will present Glass with a huge opportunity to really catch the eye of the coaching staff and stake his claim for that remaining open spot on the third line, and Gallant spoke to the media at length about Glass prior to puck drop:

"“Hopefully he will play good hockey and we want to give Cody a shot on the right side just to see how he gets on with those guys (Tuch & Eakin) tonight. He’s going to play center most of the time but sometimes there are little switches so we’ll see how the line gets along tonight – different options.“You hope it goes well, you it looks good and it might be a possibility so we’ll see how it goes. It is the time to do it.”"

It is now on Glass’ shoulders to go out there and perform and it will be fascinating to see how he equips himself against the Kings on what could be a line we get used to seeing throughout the regular season.

Meanwhile Oscar Dansk will get his first taste of preseason action tonight and, after Garret Sparks posted a 24-save shutout in the 5-0 hammering of Colorado on Tuesday, the pressure will be on Dansk to produce a strong showing with the goalie depth looking increasingly strong for the Golden Knights.

Jonathan Marchessault is also expected to play against the Kings for his second outing of the preseason, and the elite wing told the media today that he is itching for the regular season to arrive.

"“They (William Karlsson & Mark Stone) are great players but it is an exhibition so it is all about getting those good habits back and finding it right away. At the end of the day you just want to skate, get your tempo back, play well and make good decisions at the right time to be ready for when the season starts.“I can’t wait to get back and playing real, meaningful games but this is all a process to get us ready for those games.”"

William Karlsson and Mark Stone are set to get some minutes under their belt tonight and, as Marchessault said, it will once again be a case of ironing out any mistakes, getting back into the rhythm of playing hockey and getting both the mind and the body ready for the grind of an 82-game regular season.

As for the LA Kings, they too are expected to play some established stars later with Jonathan Quick set to get the start in goal, while the likes of Anze Kopitar, Alex Iafallo and Drew Doughty were present for morning skate today.

All in all, tonight will be another good test for the Vegas Golden Knights as they continue to prepare and get their reps in ahead of the regular season, and it will be a huge opportunity for the likes of Cody Glass and Nic Hague to continue to stake their claim for a roster spot on opening night.

The game is a 7:30 p.m. PT faceoff and Vegas fans can catch all the action on KTNV Channel 13 or on FOX Sports Radio 98.9/1340 in Las Vegas.