The Golden Knights Look to Get Back On Track Against the Sharks

Robin Lehner making the stop for the Vegas Golden Knights. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Robin Lehner making the stop for the Vegas Golden Knights. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Vegas Golden Knights are tonight and are looking to get back into the win column again. Which, hurts to say because obtaining wins shouldn’t be a problem for the Knights- but it is.

The Golden Knights last game was against the Colorado Avalanche this past Saturday, and prior to that, was Friday against the Arizona Coyotes. Both of which ended in losses, and were bad losses if that.

Against the Coyotes, the Knights came out flat footed and didn’t really show the speed, the aggression, energy, determination, it takes to win a NHL game. And it showed.

The Coyotes are a team full of grinders and each and every player for them will not let up until the end of the game. Brayden McNabb said before the game how the Coyotes work hard and that’s how they collect their wins- they outworked the Knights, and they got a win. All would be forgiven if they beat the Avalanche.

The Colorado Avalanche are one of the best teams in hockey, so if the Golden Knights came out ready to play and got the win, the Coyote loss wouldn’t look so bad. However, they didn’t beat the Avalanche either.

They got out to a early lead and led going into the third period. That was before they gave up two goals in the third period, of course. Then they left T-Mobile losers and with yet another bad loss. However, things could turn around for the Knights tonight against the San Jose Sharks.

Looking ahead to this game, it should be an easy win, but as we saw against the Coyotes, we can’t guarantee that. One of the best things about hockey is the fact that any team is beatable. But that seems to be working against the Golden Knights at the moment so that’s not good.

But the Golden Knights have beaten the San Jose Sharks 10 games straight and so, hopefully they can keep that going into tonight. And believe me when I tell you, the Knights need this win, badly!

The Knights are currently ranked third in the pacific division behind the Flames, and the Kings. The Flames have played in two less games and have a six point lead over the Knights. The Kings however have played the same number of games as the Knights and have three more points. Then, you can’t forget the Oilers, Ducks, and Canucks.

The Edmonton Oilers have played in 53 games and are only one point behind the Knights. The Anaheim Ducks are three points behind having played in two more games, and the Canucks are four points behind and having played in three more games.

The point of that is this is a tough division so getting any in-division wins you can gather is crucial. So, lets take a look at the lineups that the Golden Knight appear to have lined up for tonight.

Vegas Golden Knights vs Arizona Coyotes Lines

Forwards

Evgenii Dadonov-Jack Eichel-Chandler Stephenson

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

William Carrier-Nicolas Roy-Michael Amadio

Jonas Rondbjerg-Brett Howden-Keegan Kolesar

Defense

Ben Hutton-Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb-Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague-Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Robin Lehner

Laurent Brossoit

Vegas Golden Knights Injury Updates

Alec Martinez: Alec Martinez was seen practicing all week with the Golden Knights and was wearing a grey jersey. Although the grey jersey signifies that he should be good to go, we’ve seen him in it before and then hit a lull. Hopefully, that’s not the case and Martinez is going to get back sooner rather than later, but Pete DeBoer has stated multiple times that Martinez is not ready to return.

Nolan Patrick: Nolan Patrick has been battling an upper-body injury since the hit to his head from Nathan MacKinnon. We’ve seen him skate and practice in a red no-contact jersey this week but it came out yesterday that the Golden Knights were going to be adding him to the IR. That means he will be out for a week or until he’s ready to return.

Robin Lehner: Similar to Martinez, Lehner did in fact practice this week with the Knights, and it appears as though he is ready to return to action after Pete DeBoer stated that he expects Lehner to get the start tonight in net. Good sign for the struggling Knights.

Max Pacioretty: Max Pacioretty left the game early against the Coyotes and looks as though he will be missing some time. All we know about the injury is that it is an lower-body injury that looks as though it will side-line him for some time.

Mattias Janmark: Mattias Janmark, along with Pacioretty, will miss some time after leaving the game early against the Coyotes. I’d assume that the injury he is dealing with has to do with the hit he received from Ritchie on Friday.

Vegas Golden Knights Call-Ups

Jonas Rondbjerg: The Golden Knights have called up Jonas Rondbjerg and re-assigned Jake Leschyshyn. Rondbjerg looks as though he will be filling in for Nolan Patrick, but I’d also not be surprised if the Golden Knights call up Jake Leschyshyn again given Pacioretty and Janmark’s injury.

Los Angeles Kings vs Vegas Golden Knights: Date, Time and More

Date: Tuesday; March 1st, 2022

Where: T-Mobile

Time: 9:00 CNT

Radio: KKGK 98.9 FM or 1340 AM

How to Watch: ESPN+, fuboTV

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