Golden Knights Gameday 22: Krak Friday: Lines and Notes vs Kraken

An earlier Black Friday night matchup between the Vegas Golden Knights (16-4-1, 33 points) and Seattle Kraken (11-5-3, 25 points) will be played at T-Mobile Arena on Friday starting at 5:00 p.m.

This is the second of four meetings between the NHL’s two most recent expansion teams. After tonight’s game, they will not meet again until the last two games of the regular season.

The Golden Knights are coming off their first game of a current three-game homestand. They defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-1 on Wednesday, with both Will Karlsson and Will Carrier scoring beauty goals.

The Kraken are having a surprisingly strong season and are currently second in the Pacific. They only have one regulation loss in their last ten games and are also on a three-game win streak. Andre Burakovsky leads the team in scoring with 19 points in 18 games played.

What to Watch For

Krak Attack?

The Pacific Division is perhaps the hardest division to predict in the NHL, as they are so many teams that could either win the division or plummet at the same time. The Golden Knights look to be back as a Stanley Cup Playoff team but don’t pen them in yet, as they were in a similar position last season.

For the Kraken, they may be turning the corner into the playoffs sooner than expected. As mentioned before, they currently occupy the second playoff spot in the Pacific. They have a solid lineup with a lot of Misfits of their own, from Jordan Eberle to Jared McCann.

Perhaps this is a playoff team overall, and maybe the Golden Knights will see them in the Spring.

Third Line Woes

The Golden Knights are still struggling to find a reliable third line. Paul Cotter, Phil Kessel, and Michael Amadio are the current workforce for the line. Against the Senators Wednesday, they had their ice time cut down once more and rarely saw a defensive zone start.

Calder Matchup

Logan Thompson and Matty Beniers are the two frontrunners for the Calder Memorial Trophy, the quarter-mark of the season. The Calder Trophy celebrates the NHL’s rookie of the year. Despite playing last season, Thompson is still eligible for the award as he played less than 25 games in 2021-22.

As the team’s new starter with Robin Lehner out for the season, Thompson is 11-3-0 on the season with a .925 save percentage and a 2.30 goals-against-average. Beniers has six goals and eight assists for 14 points in 19 games played.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Chandler Stephenson- Jack Eichel– Mark Stone (c)

Jonathan Marchessault- William Karlsson– Reilly Smith

Paul Cotter- Michael Amadio- Phil Kessel

William Carrier- Brett Howden- Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague- Zach Whitecloud

Logan Thompson/Adin Hill

Vegas Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stone, Eichel, Stephenson, Marchessault, Pietrangelo

PP2: Howden, Karlsson, Smith, Kessel, Theodore

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Stone, Martinez, Whitecloud

IR/Scratches

Nicolas Roy/Jake Leschyshyn, Ben Hutton

Projected Kraken Line Combinations

Jaden Schwartz- Alex Wennberg- Andre Burakovsky

Jared McCann- Matty Beniers- Jordan Eberle

Brandon Tanev- Yanni Gourde- Oliver Bjorkstrand

Ryan Donato- Morgan Geekie- Daniel Sprong

Adam Larsson- Vince Dunn

Jamie Oleksiak- Justin Schultz

Carson Soucy- Will Borgen

Philipp Grubauer/Martin Jones

Kraken Special Teams

PP1- Eberle, McCann, Schwartz, Dunn, Burakovsky

PP2- Wennberg, Beniers, Bjorkstrond, Sprong, Schultz

PK1- Wennberg, Tanev, Soucy, Borgen

PK2- Gourde, Schwartz, Larsson, Oleksiak

IR/Scratches

Chris Driedger, Joonas Donskoi/Karson Kuhlman, Cale Fleury

How to Watch/Listen

5:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+, and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.