The Vegas Golden Knights will try to improve their winning streak to five games when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
The Golden Knights are coming off a 5-0 win against the Calgary Flames on Monday that completed a perfect four-game homestand.
Vegas improved its NHL-leading goals-per-game average to 4.70 while also expanding its league-leading goal differential to plus-19.
“Sometimes, your team gets hot. We might be going through one of those (stretches),” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’d love to keep this pace, don’t get me wrong. Things are going in for us. We’re making good plays. We’re extending leads.”
Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has contributed 12 points through 10 games, and even the fourth line of Cole Schwindt, Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar continues to give opposing teams problems.
The trio accounted for three goals and five assists against Calgary.
“When you’re using (the fourth line) against top lines, which we do a lot, you don’t run from matchups — and they’re a threat to score,” Cassidy said. “It makes us that much more dangerous. The other team’s line can’t just do what they want, knowing these guys will never score on us.”
Kolesar did not score more than eight goals in any of his previous five seasons with the Golden Knights, but he is already halfway to that total this season.
“He’s looked really good,” Roy said. “During camp, he looked really fast and improved his shot a lot. He’s looked good all around. He’s a big body (6-foot-2, 216 pounds), great shot. He’s fun to play with for sure.”
The Kings visited the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night and lost 4-2 to end a two-game winning streak.
One of the highlights for the Kings was a goal by Akil Thomas, who was playing for the first time this season after being a healthy scratch the first nine games.
“First time being healthy (scratched for that long), watching at home so much, so it’s kind of tougher, I guess, because I’m healthy and I can play, so it’s been tough,” Thomas said before the game. “I’ve just been using it to get a lot of good workouts in and good skates in, and I feel better physically than I did at the start of camp, so I feel like I got something out of it, for sure.”
Before the game, Los Angeles winger Kevin Fiala was scratched for missing a team meeting. Fiala is second on the team with four goals, but he is also tied for the team lead with 12 penalty minutes.
Fiala was benched for the final 24:05 against the Utah Hockey Club last Saturday after taking his second penalty of the game, leading to a Utah goal one second after the power play ended. The Kings still wound up winning 3-2.
Los Angeles came in ranked 29th in the NHL on the power play at 13.2 percent, after going 0-for-6 with the man advantage at San Jose. The Kings also surrendered a short-handed breakaway late in the second period, when the game was still tied 1-1 — though the Sharks didn’t score.
Darcy Kuemper is expected to start in goal for Los Angeles on Wednesday after David Rittch made 17 saves against the Sharks. Kuemper missed nearly two weeks with a lower-body injury before making 24 saves in the win against Utah.
The 13-year veteran is 6-7-3 in his career against the Golden Knights, with a .930 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average — better than his overall career marks of .914 and 2.62.
For Vegas, Adin Hill and Ilya Samsonov have taken turns in net the past four games, with Samsonov in line to start Wednesday if the pattern continues. Samsonov owns a stellar career mark against the Kings: 4-1-0 with a .960 save percentage and a 1.22 GAA.
–Field Level Media