Vegas Golden Knights Vs. St. Louis Blues: Date, Time, TV, More
Maintaining their perfect record to both the Decade and their current homestand will be the main objective for the Vegas Golden Knights today.
After finishing the year with consecutive wins at T-Mobile Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights opened 2020 with a big win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
But the Knights face a much tougher test this afternoon in the reigning Stanley Cup champions the St. Louis Blues, who are enjoying one hell of a year.
The Blues are currently sitting atop both the Central Division and the Western Conference, where they held a six-point advantage over the Golden Knights.
And, despite dropping consecutive losses following an eight-game winning streak, the Blues will still be an incredibly dangerous team to matchup against today.
They are a throwback to hockey of old in that they play a physical, in-your face style of hockey, although they do also boast a bucketload of skill and offensive firepower.
For instance, St. Louis is led in points by a former Vegas Golden Knight in David Perron, who has exploded offensively with 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points through 42 games.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who could be a free agent in the summer, is fifth on the team in points with 33 (11 goals, 22 assists), while the Blues get contributions from up and down their lineup.
They are also getting stellar goaltending yet again from Jordan Binnington, who is 19-7-4 this year with a 2.55 Goals Against Average and a .916 Save Percentage.
Jake Allen has proved to be a valuable backup when called upon, compiling a 7-3-2 record with a 2.17 GAA and a .931 Sv%.
Binnington’s heroics this season play into the fact that the Blues are ranked fifth in the NHL in Goals Against Per Game (2.64), while they sit 13th in Goals For Per Game, averaging 3.12 per game.
When it comes to special teams, St. Louis is ranked eighth on the power play (24.0), while their penalty kill is operating at a 81.1 clip, ranked 13th in the NHL.
Binnington is expected to get the start between the pipes today, and he’ll be hoping to bounce back from his last outing where he allowed seven goals on 41 shots.
Star forward Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder) remains out for the St. Louis Blues, as does Sammy Blais (wrist) and Carl Gunnarsson (upper-body).
For the Vegas Golden Knights, Marc-Andre Fleury should get the start in net against the Blues, while Tomas Nosek is expected back in the lineup after missing the win over the Philadelphia Flyers due to the birth of his child.
Jonathan Marchessault has picked up a lower-body injury so he won’t be available today, which means a line shuffle for the Knights and it will also allow Jon Merrill to keep playing forward, which is just brilliant in itself.
Heading into this afternoon’s matinee, the Golden Knights are ranked 10th on the power play (22.6), while they have the 8th ranked penalty kill, which is operating at a clip of 82.0.
This Season
The Vegas Golden Knights and St. Louis have already done battle once this year, with the Blues emerging 4-2 winners at Enterprise Center.
Vegas actually played well in that game only to fall apart in the second period, but the Knights should take some confidence from that contest into today’s game.
These two franchises will meet once more this season after today, with the Knights hosting the Blues at T-Mobile Arena on Feb. 13.
Projected Lineup
Let’s look at the projected lineup for today’s game, per nhl.com:
St. Louis Blues
Jaden Schwartz – Ryan O’Reilly – David Perron
Brayden Schenn – Robert Thomas – Tyler Bozak
Alexander Steen – Oskar Sundqvist – Ivan Barbashev
Mackenzie MacEachern – Jacob de la Rose – Zach Sanford
Justin Faulk – Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester – Colton Parayko
Jordan Binnington
Jake Allen
Scratched: Jordan Kyrou, Troy Brouwer, Jake Walman
Injured: Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Sammy Blais (wrist), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)
Vegas Golden Knights
Alex Tuch – William Karlsson – Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty – Chandler Stephenson – Mark Stone
William Carrier – Paul Stastny – Cody Glass
Jon Merrill – Tomas Nosek – Ryan Reaves
Nicolas Hague – Deryk Engelland
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Nicolas Roy
Injured: Cody Eakin (lower body), Jonathan Marchessault (lower body)
Game Info
Here is all the essential information you need to know prior to faceoff…
Time: 1:00 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas
TV Broadcast: AT&T Sportsnet (SAP available)
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.
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Finishing Off
This is a huge litmus test for the Vegas Golden Knights who could tie a season-high win streak today (four) by beating the St. Louis Blues.
It won’t be easy, though, given how good a team the Blues are and it should be a real physical matchup between two teams who lead their respective divisions at the midway point of the regular season.