Golden Knights’ Playoff Gameday Preview: Game 3 at Ducks

Welcome to another Vegas Golden Knights’ Gameday Preview! The series flips to California squared at one win apiece. The Golden Knights will look to take the series lead in Game 3 against the Anaheim Ducks.

Golden Knights’ Playoff Gameday Preview: Game 3 at Ducks (Tied 1-1)

Lukas Dostal stopped 21 Vegas shots in the Ducks’ Game 2 win, even coming within seconds of a shutout. Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson, and Jansen Harkins scored for the Ducks, who outshot the Golden Knights for a second-straight game.

Game 3 Lineup (Subject to Change)

• Ivan Barbashev – Jack Eichel – Pavel Dorofeyev
• Brett Howden – Mitch Marner – Mark Stone
• Tomas Hertl – William Karlsson – Keegan Kolesar
• Cole Smith – Nic Dowd – Colton Sissons
• Brayden McNabb – Shea Theodore
• Noah Hanifin – Rasmus Andersson
• Ben Hutton – Kaedan Korczak
• Carter Hart/Adin Hill

Playoff Team Leaders

Eichel leads the team with 10 points and nine assists. Howden, whose four-game goal streak ended in Game 2, leads the Golden Knights with five goals. Smith continues to lead the team with 12 penalty minutes. Smith is also tied with Marner for the best plus/minus rating (plus-4).

In goal, Hart has seen his statistics increase since the series started. He is now posting a 2.44 goals-against average (GAA) and a .912 save percentage (SV%).

Storyline #1 – Script Flipped From Round 1

In the first round, the Golden Knights won behind their offense. The Golden Knights scored four goals or more in four of the six games against the Utah Mammoth. While Hart was good enough between the pipes, he did give up his fair share of goals.

Through two games of this series, the script is flipped. Hart has played extremely well, but the offense has struggled. Hart stopped 33 shots in the Game 1 win and made another 25 saves in Game 2. The offense, meanwhile, has just four goals in the series, with one being into an empty net.

If the team’s offense gets going and Hart stays hot, the Golden Knights would be a hard team to beat. Furthermore, the series is shifting to Anaheim, where the Golden Knights scored at least three goals in each game played there in the regular season. Is that a sign that the dangerous offense is about to heat up again?

Storyline #2 – Penalties and the Penalty Kill

The offense may be struggling, but the penalty kill is red hot. They killed off all five penalties in Game 2. Furthermore, they have killed off 19 straight penalties in the playoffs.

However, the 10 penalty minutes the Golden Knights served cost the team time on offense, something head coach John Tortorella noted after the game:

“It screws us up. We wanted to try to get a good start and we’re sitting in the box. I think that affects things as you’re trying to get through that first period, but the penalty kill has been fantastic and that was a key part of the game. We just couldn’t make it stand.”

Staying out of the box would be a step in the right direction for the Golden Knights to solve their offensive slump. Keeping the game at 5-on-5 or better will be key to the team’s success in Game 3.

Storyline #3 – Line Juggling

Tortorella did some line juggling in Game 2 to try to ignite the offense. Stone was moved to the top line, while Karlsson was moved to the second line. It is unknown what line combinations Tortorella will use to start Game 3, but we can assume he will not hesitate to juggle the lines again if needed.

How to Watch

The game starts at 6:30 P.M. Pacific Time. It can be viewed on TNT, truTV, and HBO Max.