Golden Knights Gameday 47: Win for Anabelle: Lines and Notes vs Capitals

The Vegas Golden Knights (28-16-2, 56 points) will conclude their seven-game homestand Saturday night against the Washington Capitals (25-17-6, 56 points). This is the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. The VGK won 3-2 in Washington on Nov. 1 in overtime. They are 7-2-0 all-time in the regular season against the team that defeated them in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final.

Since captain Mark Stone was injured, the Golden Knights have lost three-straight games for the first time this season and have not led in any three of these games. No lineup changes are expected for the Golden Knights outside of Phil Kessel and Michael Amadio switching and Logan Thompson starting.

Two special events will be in motion Saturday night. First off, the VGK will celebrate Lunar New Year by wearing special jerseys during warmups and then auctioning them off. Additionally, the newest member of the VGK, Make-a-Wish eight-year-old Anabelle Hanson, will be in attendance. 

What to Watch For

Win for Anabelle

With Hanson in the building for he first Golden Knights game, the team will have extra motivation to win and get out of the funk they are in.

Locate Some Goals

The Golden Knights have scored just two goals in their last two games and were shutout for the first time this season against the Dallas Stars Monday. Against the NHL's leader in shutouts, Darcy Kuemper, the Golden Knights need to generate as many offensive chances as possible.

Forward Depth

With players such as TJ Oshie, Tom Wilson, and Nicklas Backstrom returning from injury for the Capitals, they now have a good problem in that they have 14 healthy forwards. This has caused them to make 23 point player Anthony Mantha a healthy scratch. This is perhaps the exact opposite of what the VGK have with their injuries as the lack of depth at forward has caused many struggles for the team this season.

Projected Vegas Golden Knights Line Combinations

Chandler Stephenson- Jack Eichel- Michael Amadio

Reilly Smith- William Karlsson- Jonathan Marchessault

Jonas Rondbjerg- Byron Froese- Phil Kessel

Paul Cotter- Nicolas Roy- Keegan Kolesar

Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Kaedan Korczak

Alec Martinez- Ben Hutton

Logan Thompson/Adin Hill

Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stephenson, Marchessault, Smith, Eichel, Pietrangelo

PP2: Cotter, Karlsson, Kessel, Roy, Hutton

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Roy, Hague, Hutton

IR/Scratches

Shea Weber, Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner/Mark Stone (c), Will Carrier, Brett Howden, Pavel Dorofeyev, Shea Theodore, Zach Whitecloud, Daniil Miromanov

Projected Capitals Line Combinations

Alex Ovechkin (c)- Dylan Strome- Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Sonny Milano- Nicklas Backstrom- Tom Wilson

Conor Sheary- Lars Eller- TJ Oshie

Marcus Johansson- Evgeny Kuznetsov- Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson- Trevor van Riemsdyk

Dmitry Orlov- Nick Jensen

Alexander Alexeyev- Martin Fehevary

Darcy Kuemper/Charle Lindgren

Capitals Special Teams

PP1- Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Johansson, Gustafsson

PP2- Wilson, Strome, Kuznetsov, Jensen, Orlov

PK1- Eller, Wilson, Fehervary, Orlov

PK2- Kuznetsov, Johansson, Jensen, TVR

IR/Scratches

Carl Hagelin, Connor Brown, John Carlson, Nic Dowd, Kody Clark/Anthony Mantha, Aliaksei Protas, Matt Irwin, 

How to Watch/Listen

7:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+ and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.