A pair of Western Conference teams in drastically different situations take the ice in search of a win in the Windy City. The Vegas Golden Knights are on the road as they make the trip to face the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night. Vegas comes in off a 6-5 road win over Winnipeg Tuesday night in their most recent contest. Chicago was defeated 7-3 at home by Washington in their most recent game Tuesday night. In the last 10 meetings between the teams, the Golden Knights own a 7-2-1 advantage. That includes a 1-0 victory at home in the first meeting this season back on October 13.
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Vegas was in a wild contest in Winnipeg but did just enough to escape with a victory in a high-scoring affair. The Golden Knights entered Wednesday holding an eight-point lead over the Kraken and the Kings for the top spot in the Pacific Division. Vegas entered Wednesday’s action 13th in the league in goals for at 3.29 goals per contest on the season. The Golden Knights are 7th in the league in goals against as they give up an average of 2.74 goals per game this season. Vegas is 12th in power play success as they cash in on 23.6% of their opportunities with the man advantage. The Golden Knights are 24th in the league in penalty killing in the early going as have successfully navigated through 73.8% of their shorthanded situations on the season.
Against Winnipeg, it took a third-period outburst but the Golden Knights did what they needed to in order to secure the victory. The opening period saw Vegas hold a 15-8 advantage in shots on goal and they took a 2-1 lead to the dressing room at the first intermission. After spotting Winnipeg the game’s opening goal, Daniil Miromanov knotted the score with his first goal of the year at 11:30 off assists from Reilly Smith and William Karlsson. Mark Stone gave the Golden Knights a 2-1 lead with his 11th of the season at 19:58 with assists going to Nicolas Hague and Chandler Stephenson. The second period saw Vegas outshot 10-9 and outscored 2-1 to leave the game even at three after 40 minutes of play. After Winnipeg tied the game at two, Stone gave the Golden Knights a 3-2 advantage with his second of the night and 12th of the year at 15:34 off an assist from Stephenson. That lead lasted all of 39 seconds before the Jets evened the score again.
The third period was a wild affair that saw the Golden Knights outshot 16-9 but they outscored the Jets 3-2 to earn the victory. After falling behind 4-3, Jonathan Marchessault knotted the game with his 13th goal of the season, on the power play, at 9:38 with assists going to Miromanov and Stephenson. Later in the period, Marchessault gave Vegas a 5-4 lead with his second of the game and 14th of the year, on the power play, at 17:44 with Miromanov and Stephenson drawing the helpers on the marker. Karlsson added an empty-net goal, his seventh of the season, at 18:36 with assists going to Smith and Brayden McNabb for a 6-4 edge. That goal proved critical when Winnipeg tallied with two seconds to play in regulation. Adin Hill earned the win by making 29 stops for Vegas, who was outshot 34-33, in the contest. Logan Thompson is expected to get the call between the pipes in this contest.