Golden Knights Look To Head Into Holiday Break With A Win Over The Ducks

The Vegas Golden Knights play their final game before the winter break against the Anaheim Ducks and look to secure the two points.

The Golden Knights and Ducks are playing for the fourth and final time this season, with the Golden Knights coming out on the winning end of all three contests. The first time the two teams met was the second game of the season, resulting in a 3-1 win for the Golden Knights.

The second matchup between the two was another tightly contested game, with the Golden Knights holding off a late push by the Ducks to win 3-2. The third and most recent meeting was another game in which the Golden Knights heavily outshot the Ducks en route to a 4-1 victory.

Tonight’s duel will be a home game for the Golden Knights, who come in winners of three in a row and eight of their last 10.

Jack Eichel has fallen out of the Art Ross race due to the recent surge by Nathan MacKinnon, but due to Eichel’s all-around game, he’ll remain in the Hart Trophy race. Despite Eichel’s high point total, he hasn’t scored in five games and has just one goal in his last 11 games.

Adin Hill has got his save percentage over the .900 mark and has continued to improve as the season has gone along. He’s the expected goaltender tonight, and he’ll likely face off against John Gibson.

The young Ducks core has struggled to score goals, ranking 30th in the NHL in goals per game compared to the Golden Knights, averaging 3.52 goals per game (fifth best in the NHL). The Golden Knights have multiple advantages heading into tonight’s game but will need to be focused to ensure the two points.

Golden Knights projected lineup:

Olofsson-Eichel-Stone
Hertl-Karlsson-Kolesar
Howden-Laczynski-Dorofeyev
Pearson-Schwindt-Holtz

McNabb-Theodore
Hanifin-Pietrangelo
Hague-Whitecloud

Samsonov
Hill

Ducks projected lineup:

Vatrano-Strome-Terry
McGinn-Carlsson-Killorn
Gauthier-McTavish-Fabbri
Harkins-Lundestrom-Leason

Zellweger-Trouba
Mintyukov-Dumoulin
LaCombe-Gudas

Gibson
Dostal

Puck drop is at 7:00 P.M. PST at T-Mobile Arena

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