The Vegas Golden Knights will aim to extend their winning streak to five games when they face the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
The Golden Knights just won 5-0 against the Calgary Flames on Monday, wrapping up a perfect four-game homestand.
Vegas has raised its NHL-leading goals-per-game average to 4.70 and improved its goal differential to plus-19.
“Sometimes, your team gets hot. We might be going through one of those (stretches),” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “I’d love to keep this pace, don’t get me wrong. Things are going in for us. We’re making good plays. We’re extending leads.”
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has added 12 points in 10 games, and the fourth line of Cole Schwindt, Nicolas Roy, and Keegan Kolesar continues to challenge other teams. This trio contributed three goals and five assists against Calgary.
“When you’re using (the fourth line) against top lines, which we do a lot, you don’t run from matchups — and they’re a threat to score,” Cassidy said. “It makes us that much more dangerous. The other team’s line can’t just do what they want, knowing these guys will never score on us.”
Kolesar has never scored more than eight goals in any of his previous five seasons with the Golden Knights, but he is already halfway to that total this season.
“He’s looked really good,” Roy said. “During camp, he seemed really fast and improved his shot a lot. He’s looked strong all around. He’s a big guy (6-foot-2, 216 pounds), has a great shot, and he’s fun to play with for sure.”
The Kings played against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night and lost 4-2, ending a two-game winning streak.
One highlight for the Kings was a goal by Akil Thomas, who played for the first time this season after being a healthy scratch for the first nine games.
“First time being healthy (scratched for that long), watching at home so much, so it’s kind of tougher, I guess, because I’m healthy and I can play, so it’s been tough,” Thomas said before the game. “I’ve just been using it to get a lot of good workouts in and good skates in, and I feel better physically than I did at the start of camp, so I feel like I got something out of it, for sure.”
Before the game, Los Angeles winger Kevin Fiala was scratched for missing a team meeting. Fiala is second on the team with four goals but is also tied for the team lead with 12 penalty minutes.
Fiala was benched for the last 24:05 against the Utah Hockey Club last Saturday after taking his second penalty of the game, which led to a Utah goal just after the power play ended. The Kings still won 3-2.
Los Angeles ranked 29th in the NHL on the power play at 13.2 percent after going 0-for-6 with the man advantage against San Jose. The Kings also allowed a short-handed breakaway late in the second period when the game was still tied 1-1, although the Sharks didn’t score.
Darcy Kuemper is likely to start as the goalie for Los Angeles on Wednesday after David Rittch made 17 saves against the Sharks. Kuemper missed almost two weeks due to a lower-body injury but returned to make 24 saves in the win against Utah.
The 13-year veteran has a career record of 6-7-3 against the Golden Knights, with a .930 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average, which are better than his overall career stats of .914 and 2.62.
For Vegas, Adin Hill and Ilya Samsonov have been alternating in goal for the last four games, with Samsonov expected to start on Wednesday if this pattern continues. Samsonov has an impressive career record against the Kings, standing at 4-1-0 with a .960 save percentage and a 1.22 GAA.
