Golden Knights at Jets
The Vegas Golden Knights are blazing a trail through the Pacific Division by winning nine of their last 10 games, with all but one being played at T-Mobile Arena. The Golden Knights take their show on road Friday when they open a five-game road trip against the Winnipeg Jets.
Vegas has been idle since Tuesday's 3-0 victory over New Jersey, a contest in which Robin Lehner endeared himself to his new teammates by making 27 saves to celebrate his 300th career game. "They traded for me here for a reason, and I'm just doing my best," said Lehner, who has stopped 59 of the last 60 shots he faced with the Golden Knights after yielding a goal on the first attempt he saw in last Friday's 4-2 win over Buffalo. Winnipeg also got the better of the Sabres, with its 3-1 victory on Tuesday marking its fourth straight victory at home. Kyle Connor collected two goals and an assist against Buffalo and capped a three-point performance by scoring in overtime to give the Jets a 4-3 victory versus Vegas on Nov. 2.
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountains, TSN3
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (37-23-8): William Karlsson has answered a 20-game goal drought by scoring five times in his last five contests to boost his career total to 100 tallies. "I won't think about it too much, but maybe after I'm done it'll be a nice milestone (to look back on)," the 27-year-old Swede said. Max Pacioretty, who leads the team in goals (31) and points (65), joined Karlsson in collecting a goal and an assist on Tuesday to elevate his point total to 17 (10 goals, seven assists) in his past 13 contests.
ABOUT THE JETS (34-28-6): Mathieu Perreault (upper body), who tallied twice in the first encounter with Vegas, joined Adam Lowry (upper body) in participating with a non-contact jersey in practice on Thursday. "I won't have both of them going in at the same time," coach Paul Maurice said of their prospects of playing on Friday for the first time since January. "It was a full-on practice for them today, which is a great sign." A great sign has also been the play of both Mark Scheifele and captain Blake Wheeler, with the former recording 12 (five goals, seven assists) of his team-leading 71 points in his last eight games while the latter has 12 (four goals, eight assists) in his past 10.
OVERTIME
1. Winnipeg G Connor Hellebuyck has yielded six goals in his last four games but has just two wins to show for it.
2. Vegas recalled Fs Brandon Pirri and Nicolas Roy from Chicago of the American Hockey League on Thursday.
3. Connor, who has a career-high 35 goals, has seven points (five goals, two assists) during his five-game point streak.