The Golden Knights will take on the NHL’s two leading scorers Saturday without one of their key players.
Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid (82 points) and teammate Leon Draisaitl (66) will visit T-Mobile Arena at 7 p.m. after defeating the San Jose Sharks 7-1 on Friday.
The Knights will try to defend them without one of their best two-way players in captain Mark Stone, who is considered week to week with an upper-body injury.
The team knows it will take a group effort to stop McDavid, Draisaitl and the Oilers’ top-ranked power play. They learned that the hard way their first meeting Nov. 19. Draisaitl scored, right wing Zach Hyman struck on the man advantage, and McDavid got the overtime winner in a 4-3 victory.
“You can’t give them easy offense,” left wing Reilly Smith said. “You can’t give them any extra space or time. They’re guys that are very hard to stop one-on-one, so you have to stop them by committee. You just have to be really mindful when they’re on the ice because obviously they can burn you almost at any time.”
The Knights, without Stone, will juggle their forward lines against the Oilers.
Right wing Byron Froese was called up from Henderson for his second game of the season and will play on the third line with rookie Paul Cotter and center Michael Amadio. Right wing Jonathan Marchessault will join left wing Chandler Stephenson and center Jack Eichel for a supercharged top trio.
“I just think this is the best fit right now with Mark being out,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I don’t know if it’ll work out. I hope so.”
Rookie goaltender Logan Thompson is expected to start for the Knights. The All-Star allowed four goals on 36 shots in his only career appearance against the Oilers last season. Thompson was excited Friday about the challenge Edmonton poses.
“Yeah, they’ve got some decent players,” Thompson said sarcastically. “They’ve got some of the best players in the world, so we’re going to have to come ready to go tomorrow.”
Knights vs. Oilers (7 p.m.)
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Radio: KKGK (98.9 FM, 1340 AM)
Line: Knights -140, total 6½
Knights record: 28-13-2
Oilers record: 23-18-3
Head-to-head: Knights 0-0-1
Knights’ projected lineup:
Chandler Stephenson — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault
Reilly Smith — William Karlsson — Phil Kessel
Paul Cotter — Michael Amadio — Byron Froese
William Carrier — Nicolas Roy — Keegan Kolesar
Nic Hague — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Kaedan Korczak
Ben Hutton — Alec Martinez
Logan Thompson
Contact Ben Gotz at [email protected]. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.
