Canadiens at Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights have a chance to match the league record for most home wins by an expansion club in its inaugural season when they host the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. It will be the fourth contest of a seven-game homestand for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who are a blistering 21-4-2 at T-Mobile Arena.
Vegas opened the homestand with a rare loss against Philadelphia but rebounded with a pair of three-goal victories over Chicago and Edmonton to maintain its double-digit cushion atop the division. "We got a couple (wins) in a row and now we go try to get the third and start building," said Golden Knights forward Erik Haula, who scored in Thursday's 4-1 win over the Oilers and also tallied in a 3-2 loss at Montreal on Nov. 7. The Canadiens continued their slide out of playoff contention by dropping their fourth in a row in a 5-2 setback at league-worst Arizona on Thursday. "We've just got to find the answer in here," Montreal forward Daniel Carr said. "We've got to be pros about everything. That's how we're going to get through this."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sportsnet360, CITY, TVA (Montreal), AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas)
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (22-28-7): Montreal has the league's worst road record (8-18-1) and has dropped five in a row and 10 of 11 away from home while being limited to one goal or less eight times in that span. Carr returned after missing five straight as a healthy scratch and provided a spark with a goal and a team-high five shots on net. "I hadn't played in a while, so there were some little plays that I want to make better," Carr said. "As a line we did some good things and we've got to continue that going forward."
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (38-15-4): Forward William Karlsson reached a pair of milestones in Thursday's victory, scoring his team-leading 30th goal and collecting his 100th career point -- half of which have come in his first season in Vegas. Defenseman Deryk Engelland, who will turn 36 in April, set a personal best with his 18th point, eclipsing his previous high from 2011-12. “I feel great,” Engelland said. “I think this is by far my best year all around and hopefully it continues that way.”
OVERTIME
1. Vegas is an NHL-best 23-3-0 when scoring the first goal.
2. Canadiens F Brendan Gallagher has scored in three of his last four games and is three shy of his career-high 24 set in 2014-15.
3. Vegas needs one home win to tie the expansion record of 22, set by the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers.