Vegas Golden Knights vs. Chicago Blackhawks: Date, Time, TV, Streaming
After a disastrous road trip, the Vegas Golden Knights are back on home ice tonight when they host the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena.
The Vegas Golden Knights went 1-2-1 on the four-game swing that took them through Columbus, Toronto, Washington and Detroit, including dropping a shocker against the Red Wings on Sunday.
And, after losing six of their last eight games, the Golden Knights are currently 9-7-3 on the season and are sitting fifth in the Pacific Division behind the Edmonton Oilers, Arizona Coyotes, Vancouver Canucks and the Calgary Flames.
However, there is a silver lining at play here and that is the fact that the Golden Knights have never lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, going 7-0-0 over the last two-and-a-bit years.
The Knights have dominated against the Hawks, particularly defenseman Shea Theodore who tallied five points (three goals, two assists) against Chicago last year, while he potted the shootout winner when these two teams did battle last month.
Now, the Blackhawks are a strange commodity in that they could be classed as a rebuilder, although they still have key pieces from their championship core in place in the ilk of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith.
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But Chicago have struggled through the first month and a bit of the year and they are currently 6-7-4 on the year, although they are 2-0-1 in their last three games.
The Blackhawks (6-7-4) have struggled to score goals this year and their offense is ranked 23rd in the NHL (2.65), while they also haven’t been stellar on defense which is ranked 17th in the National Hockey League (3.00).
They have one of the worst power plays in the league (14.5) and their penalty kill isn’t much better, ranking 21st in the NHL (79.3).
Patrick Kane leads the way for the Blackhawks with 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists), while Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Strome are behind Kane with 13 and 12 points respectively.
The Hawks will go with Corey Crawford between the pipes tonight for the third time in four games, while Kane is riding the hot hand currently with 11 points (five goals, six assists) during a six-game point streak.
For the Vegas Golden Knights, they are currently 2-3-3 in their last eight games and they will go with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal tonight, who has been sensational this year with a 9-4-1 record along with a 2.51 Goals Against Average and a .920 Save Percentage.
And they are going to need Fleury to stand on his head again tonight with the defense less than stellar as of late, which has left them ranked 15th in the NHL (2.95) in the Goals Against Per Game category.
The offense has also been in a slump and it has dropped off dramatically, with the Knights averaging just 2.84 Goals For Per Game.
However, Alex Tuch is back in the lineup tonight and that will give Vegas a boost with the forward having only played in just two games this year due to various injuries.
The Golden Knights will be hoping that Tuch can give their offense a spark but one man they can rely on is Max Pacioretty, who has five goals in four games and the veteran has been the Knights’ best player over the last few games.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams for tonight’s game, per nhl.com.
Chicago Blackhawks
Alex Nylander – Jonathan Toews – Brandon Saad
Alex DeBrincat – Dylan Strome – Patrick Kane
Ryan Carpenter – David Kampf – Dominik Kubalik
Zack Smith – Kirby Dach – Andrew Shaw
Adam Boqvist – Duncan Keith
Calvin de Haan – Brent Seabrook
Corey Crawford
Vegas Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty – Paul Stastny – Mark Stone
Alex Tuch – Cody Eakin – Cody Glass
William Carrier – Nicolas Roy – Ryan Reaves
Jon Merrill – Nick Holden
Nicolas Hague – Shea Theodore
Marc-Andre Fleury
Healthy Scratches:
Here is all the essential information you need to know prior to faceoff…
Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas
TV Broadcast: NBCSN
Radio: FOX Sports 98.9/1340 | Deportes Vegas 1460
Live Streaming: ESPN+ has a free 7-day trial that includes live streaming for this game on all your smart devices! Besides NHL games, ESPN+ features a selection of live games from MLB, MLS, Serie A, FA Cup, and EFL. Get in on the action with Live UFC Fight Nights, 30+ Top Rank Boxing cards, Grand Slam tennis from Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open.
Next. Golden Knights should trade Eakin. dark
It is a huge game for the Vegas Golden Knights who are slumping badly right now, and they will want to avoid losing four straight games. If they can get a big win tonight then that could provide the platform for a sustained run ahead of what is an important stretch coming up.