Golden Knights at Flyers
The Vegas Golden Knights have followed up a fairy-tale season with the early sub-plots of a nightmare, dropping three in a row while scoring two goals or fewer in each of their five contests in 2018-19. The Golden Knights bid to end a five-game road trip on a high note and avert a season sweep by the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon when the clubs meet at Wells Fargo Center.
Reilly Smith scored for the second time in as many games to reach the 100-goal plateau on Thursday, but Vegas was done in by Phil Kessel's natural hat trick in a 4-2 setback to Pittsburgh. Jonathan Marchessault had two assists versus the Penguins to boost his team-leading total to six points (two goals, four assists) and also scored in the season-opening 5-2 setback to Philadelphia on Oct. 4. Jakub Voracek had a pair of assists in that game versus Vegas and registered a career-high five points (two goals, three assists) in Wednesday's 7-4 triumph over Ottawa. "It was a tough start at home for us (an 8-2 romp by San Jose on Tuesday), but we scored seven and I think we played a pretty good hockey game," the 29-year-old Voracek said. "We just have to take it to the home ice now."
TV: 1 p.m. ET, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas), Sportsnet, NBCS Philadelphia
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (1-4-0): William Karlsson has set up four goals during his three-game point streak after being held off the scoresheet in the first two games, including the loss to Philadelphia. Marc-Andre Fleury had a performance he'd like to forget in that first meeting with the Flyers, yielding five goals on 16 shots before being relieved midway into the second period. The three-time Stanley Cup champion has surrendered four goals in back-to-back games after posting career-best marks in goals-against average (2.24) and save percentage (.927) in 2017-18.
ABOUT THE FLYERS (2-2-0): The injuries are piling up in the City of Brotherly Love as Travis Konecny left Friday's practice after getting hit on the inside of his foot by a shot from defenseman Ivan Provorov. Konecny's status for Saturday's game is unknown as he joins Nolan Patrick (upper body, out 7-10 days) and fellow forward James van Riemsdyk (lower body, out 5-6 weeks) among the walking wounded. "We're not going to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves," general manager Ron Hextall told reporters Friday. "We have more depth right now than I think we've had in the past. The guys now will go into a little bit more significant positions and have to produce."
OVERTIME
1. Philadelphia RW Wayne Simmonds recorded the first of his two multi-point performances this season by scoring two goals in the opener versus Vegas.
2. The Golden Knights have yet to be outshot in a game this season, but they also have not converted on the power play (0-for-13).
3. Philadelphia's Jordan Weal, who made his season debut versus Ottawa before being demoted to the press box the following night, is expected to be re-inserted into the lineup while fellow C Scott Laughton -- fresh off a two-goal effort against the Senators -- remains on the third line.