Vegas Golden Knights at Dallas Stars: Date, Time, TV, More
When the going gets tough the tough gets going. Well, let’s hope that this particular saying relates to the Vegas Golden Knights against the Dallas Stars tonight.
Because, let’s face it, it doesn’t get much tougher for the Vegas Golden Knights (11-10-4), who faceoff against a red hot Dallas Stars team (14-8-2) who are tearing up the National Hockey League right now.
After starting the year in horrific fashion, going 5-8-1 in October, this talented Stars team are 9-0-1 in November and are chasing their seventh consecutive win tonight, which would tie a Stars/Minnesota North Stars franchise record.
It is all coming together for Dallas and this is exactly how they should be performing given the abundance of talent at their disposal.
They are getting solid goaltending from both Ben Bishop, who has a 2.25 Goals Against Average and a .926 Save Percentage in 16 starts, and Anton Khudobin who has a 6-3-1 record with a 2.15 GAA and a .929 Sv%.
More from Vegas Hockey Knight
- The moment the Vegas Golden Knights have been waiting for
- 3 Golden Knights players deserving of the Conn Smythe Trophy
- If Golden Knights win Stanley Cup, who should Mark Stone pass it to first?
- Why are Vegas Golden Knights fans obsessed with flamingos?
- Just one more game for Golden Knight supremacy
And the Stars also boast a plethora of firepower with a number of players able to produce an offensive punch up and down the lineup.
Roope Hintz, who has had his season disrupted by injury, has 12 points (10 goals, two assists) in 17 games while seven players have hit double figures in points so far this season.
Tyler Seguin, arguably the most talented forward on the Dallas roster, has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists), while Captain Jamie Benn is starting to hot up with five goals and eight assists for 13 points.
Vegas will also have to put the shackles on sophomore defenseman Miro Heiskanen, who is continuing his elevation into the upper echelon of elite young blueliners in the NHL.
Through 24 games, Heiskanen has potted six goals and tallied 11 helpers for 17 points and he’s second on the team in scoring.
He averages 24:57 minutes of total ice time this year and he is also a cornerstone piece of the power play for the Stars, so the Golden Knights will have their work cut out with the stud blueliner.
Dallas is currently outscoring the opposition 46-37 in 5-on-5 situations, but they struggle on the power play and are currently ranked 27th in that category (12.8).
The Stars do excel on the penalty kill, however, and their PK is clicking at a 85.0 rate currently which is ranked 7th in the NHL.
They rank 21st in Goals For Per Game (2.79) but they are 2nd in the NHL when it comes to having one of the best defenses, allowing an average of just 2.33 Goals Against Per Game.
Ben Bishop will start between the pipes for the Stars tonight and he’s 1-3-0 in his career against the Knights with a 1.92 GAA and a .945 Sv%.
Forward Justin Dowling is day-to-day with an upper-body period so will play no part in tonight’s matchup.
There is good news for the Vegas Golden Knights heading into tonight’s contest, however. They are 5-1-0 against the Stars and have never lost in Dallas, so that is a good omen heading into the matchup.
Vegas, who is 2-5-1 in its past eight games, can take comfort in the fact that a number of players on the roster thrive against the Dallas Stars.
Max Pacioretty has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in 15 games against the Stars, Mark Stone has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 11 games and Reilly Smith has nine points in 14 games.
Veteran center Paul Stastny trumps those three, though, with 20 goals and 29 assists for 49 points in 48 career games against the Stars.
Malcolm Subban is expected to get the start between the pipes tonight and he has a 0-3-0 record this season with 3.42 Goals Against Average and a .888 Save Percentage. Not great, Bob, not great.
Vegas have scored a power play goal in three of their last five games and their man advantage is currently ranked 8th in the NHL, clicking at 22.8.
They are also getting the job done on the penalty kill too, which is clicking at 85.9 percent which is good enough to be ranked 4th in the league.
Let’s take a look at the projected lineups for both teams, per nhl.com…
Vegas Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty – Cody Eakin – Mark Stone
Alex Tuch – Paul Stastny – Cody Glass
William Carrier – Tomas Nosek – Ryan Reaves
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Jon Merrill
Suspended: Valentin Zykov
Dallas Stars
Jamie Benn – Roope Hintz – Tyler Seguin
Alexander Radulov – Jason Dickinson – Corey Perry
Mattias Janmark – Joe Pavelski – Denis Gurianov
Andrew Cogliano – Radek Faksa – Blake Comeau
Jamie Oleksiak – Miro Heiskanen
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Taylor Fedun, Joel Hanley
Injured: Justin Dowling (upper body), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)
Dallas is 10-1-2 against Western Conference Teams this year and tonight should be a real battle between two teams who have aspirations of lifting the Stanley Cup come the end of June.
Here is all the essential information you need to know prior to faceoff…
Time: 5:30 p.m. PT
Where: American Airlines Center – Dallas
TV Broadcast: AT&T Sportsnet
Radio: FOX Sports 98.9/1340
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.
STAT
The Dallas Stars are 5-0-1 against the Pacific Division this season while the Vegas Golden Knights are 1-3-1 against teams in the central, so we’ll see how those respective records look after tonight.
dark. Next. Work to be done after Oilers loss
Finishing Off
This is a real litmus test for the Vegas Golden Knights who have dropped two straight and can’t afford to lose any more ground in the Pacific Division. They need to play a solid, gritty and hard game of hockey for the full 60 and they are going to have to shut down the red hot Stars from the first drop of the puck.