Golden Knights Game Day: Vegas at Boston on Monday Night, Looking to End a 1-3-1 Slide
The Atlantic swing starts against the hotter team. Boston (10-4-1) came from two goals down in the third period to win in overtime on Saturday, while Vegas (9-5-1) has scored more than two goals once in five games. Puck drop at TD Garden is 4 p.m. Pacific on NHL Network.
Monday's game at TD Garden (7 p.m. Eastern, 4 p.m. Pacific, NHL Network) pairs two teams moving in opposite directions. The Boston Bruins are 10-4-1 with 21 points and snapped a two-game losing skid on Saturday the hard way: down two goals midway through the third period against Chicago, they got third-period goals from Mason Lohrei and Morgan Geekie to force overtime and an Elias Lindholm winner to take it 5-4 — despite being outshot 41-32 and held to nine shots halfway through the game, a performance their coach, Marco Sturm, said still needs to be better.
Vegas arrives at 9-5-1 with 19 points and a colder recent file: 1-3-1 in the last five games after an 8-2-0 start, and a 5-2 home loss to New Jersey on Friday that looked, in the words of the game account, no different on review than it did live. The Knights were outshot 32-21, their 2-1 first-period lead did not last, and Adin Hill's 27 saves kept the margin where it was. Vegas has scored more than two goals once in its last five games — Tuesday's 4-1 win over Ottawa — and the offense, more than anything else, is what the four-game Atlantic trip has to fix.
There are two genuine bright spots to build on. Friday's penalty kill went 2-for-2, breaking a streak of six straight games allowing a power-play goal, even if the unit's season number remains 69.4 percent. And the roster gained a fresh option on Sunday, when the club recalled rookie defenseman Viliam Kmec from Henderson — a move filed on this site Sunday afternoon. The trip opens Monday in Boston; what Vegas does about its scoring is the story that follows it down the coast.
