The Nashville Predators head to Vegas to take on the Golden Knights today. It’s been a rough winter in Vegas, as starting about halfway through December the team’s fortunes have plummeted. They’ve lost a lot of players to IR recently, with scoring leader Jack Eichel officially joining William Karlsson (third in points), Shea Theodore (seventh), and more on the unavailable list as of this weekend.
Mark Stone remains a strong contributor; his 29 assists were leading the team regardless of health, and at 41 points he’s just three behind Eichel. Jonathan Marchessault, now leading in goals, was a solid second in goalscoring with 17 even before Eichel’s absence.
Backup Adin Hill is turning in an excellent performance in goal, with a .933 sv% on the season, while starter Logan Thompson is having a respectable enough year with a .905.
In many respects the Knights hover pretty close to average, with nothing striking–good or bad–in their even-strength puck control, or their special teams performances. They’ve had mildly poor shooting luck, especially on the power play, but nothing really that noteworthy. William Carrier, also on the IR list, has been their standout best player at controlling chances; Karlsson and Nicolas Roy (uninjured) have also been very good.
The Knights are probably looking to prove something, and certainly don’t have the weight of expectations. If the Preds underestimate them, some AHLers might get a great NHL experience.
The game airs at 5PM Central on Bally Sports South and 102.5 The Game.
Statistics provided by naturalstattrick.com. Further background from hockeyviz.com.