New York Rangers vs Vegas Golden Knights: Rangers Invade the Fortress

The Vegas Golden Knights goalie, Robin Lehner, getting ready for action. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Vegas Golden Knights goalie, Robin Lehner, getting ready for action. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Today is the day that The Vegas Golden Knights bounce back. After a rough loss against the Nashville Predators, the Knights are looking to move forward and get the win tonight.

The Vegas Golden Knights are back tonight and are ready to rebound themselves. After losing to the Nashville Predators this past Tuesday, they are looking to rebound with a win. In Logan Thompson’s first start, he showed promise, but was no match for the red hot Predators.

After that tough loss against the Predators, the Vegas Golden Knights will be looking to learn from that loss, and move forward. With that comes making some adjustments and changes to benefit the team. However, it would help if they had their leaders out there. Nonetheless, they didn’t and it’s possible they wont tonight either.

So, if Mark Stone is not quite ready to return to action, what could their lineups look like? Well, let’s take a look.

Forwards

William Carrier-Chandler Stephenson-Evgenii Dadonov

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

Mattias Janmark-Nicolas Roy-Keegan Kolesar

Brett Howden-Nolan Patrick-Michael Amadio

Defense

Ben Hutton-Alex Pietrangelo

Shea Theodore-Zach Whitecloud

Brayden McNabb-Dylan Coghlan

Goalies

Robin Lehner

Logan Thompson

Now, the lineup that I complied above is under the impression that Mark Stone is not ready to return. However, it was in fact reported this morning that Robin Lehner and Nicolas Hague were both on the ice for optional skate this morning. If Nicolas Hague is ready to return and Mark Stone is ready to return, what will the lineups look like? Well, let’s take a look shall we?

Forwards

Mark Stone-Chandler Stephenson-Evgenii Dadonov

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

Mattias Janmark-Nicolas Roy-William Carrier

Keegan Kolesar-Nolan Patrick-Michael Amadio

Defense

Nicolas Hague-Alex Pietrangelo

Shea Theodore-Zach Whitecloud

Brayden McNabb-Ben Hutton

Goalies

Robin Lehner

Logan Thompson

As you can see, the second lineup holds quite a bit more firepower. That’s the effect of Mark Stone and Nicolas Hague. When this team has those two in the lineup, not only does it look better on paper, they actually play better on ice.

If the Vegas Golden Knights can get those two back in the lineup, along with Robin Lehner, this team will have a very good chance at winning this game tonight. But, when facing a team like the New York Rangers, it’ll be hard to win if you don’t have Stone in there.