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Steve Marcus

Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden (21) warms up for his team debut before a game against the St. Louis Blues at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021.

Updated 1 minute ago

The last time the Golden Knights were at home, they were eaten alive in the first few shifts before grabbing the first goal of the game. It happened again on Wednesday, as Vegas withstood early pressure from the St. Louis Blues and countered with a tally to snag a 1-0 lead after a period at T-Mobile Arena.

The Blues were all over the Golden Knights early. They fired the first seven shots of the game (which included a power play), and were credited with nine scoring chances in the opening six minutes by stats site Natural Stat Trick. Robin Lehner stood tall, as the Golden Knights needed him to.

But even when the Golden Knights struggle with possession, they’re deadly on the rush, especially when the original Misfit Line is on the ice. Reilly Smith won a puck battle in the neutral zone and sped the other way with William Karlsson on his flank. Smith fed Karlsson, whose initial shot was stopped but he followed his own rebound and put Vegas on top 1-0 at the 8:17 mark of the period. Later in the period, Jonathan Marchessault hit the post on another od-man rush.

Immediately after the goal, Lehner was challenged again, turning away a Klim Kostin breakaway chance. He made 11 saves in the first 11:02 of the game, and finished with 15.

The rest of the period featured plenty of end-to-end action. There were 52 combined shot attempts in the frame (23 by Vegas), and the Golden Knights led in shots on goal 17-15.

Down top forwards, Golden Knights welcome Blues to T-Mobile Arena

The five days off between their last game and tonight has been a bit of a mixed bag for the Golden Knights. They’ve had to stew on their last outing, a 6-2 drubbing by the Kings, while also knowing they’ll be without two-thirds of their top line for the foreseeable future.

But those days have also allowed the return of three players from injuries, all of whom are expected to make their season debuts when the Golden Knights take on the St. Louis Blues at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena, televised nationally on TNT. Vegas will struggle for as long as top forwards Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty are out, but the silver lining is an otherwise healthy lineup featuring forwards Nicolas Roy, William Carrier and Brett Howden.

“When we’re in this situation now and we do get an opportunity, we’re going to have to capitalize on it,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “I don’t think anyone’s panicking in our room. They’re important to our team but we’ve got depth here. There’s a reason that we have depth, and these are the situations where you need everything.”

Pacioretty could miss up to six weeks, while Stone’s situation is less clear. He won’t need surgery but isn’t expected to suit up in Vegas for a few games.

There’s no minimizing those losses. Those are the Golden Knights’ two best forwards and scoring threats, and Vegas will need to find ways to win without them. And while Roy, Carrier and Howden don’t exactly measure up to the level of production Stone and Pacioretty provide, the situation allows Vegas to show off the part of its game it was so excited about this summer: forward depth.

“We need them,” coach Pete DeBoer said earlier this week. “You start really testing the depth of the organization if we don’t start getting some of these guys back.”

We’ll learn a lot about the Golden Knights for however long those two are missing, but one thing that isn’t a surprise is the Blues. Both part of last year’s reconfigured West Division, the Golden Knights and Blues met eight times last year, with Vegas going 6-1-1. St. Louis has a few new names on the roster, but the core of the 2019 Stanley Cup champions — forwards Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron, defenseman Colton Parayko and goalie Jordan Binnington — are all still there.

In a way, it’s refreshing to see St. Louis again. The Golden Knights will play the Oilers and Islanders this weekend, teams they haven’t seen since the 2019-20 season. But in the Blues, there is familiarity. And when a team hasn’t played in nearly a week and needs a chance to adjust to missing two key cogs, a lack of surprises could be just what Vegas needs.

“For us to be able to focus on our team, it’s nice to be able to play a team we’ve played so consistently over the last couple of years,” forward Reilly Smith said.

Above all, it’s nice to just get back on the ice. Vegas last played Thursday and has had four practices since then, but players are wired to want to compete in games. The Golden Knights have a chance tonight to erase any bad taste from the last time out and are looking forward to the opportunity to seize it.

“It’s a little bit strange in terms of trying to get into a rhythm, and those almost felt like preseason games because we’ve had such a big break,” Pietrangelo said. “I think it gave us a chance to rest up the guys that we have and get some good practices underneath us.”

TV: TNT (DirecTV 245, Cox 1018, CenturyLink 1108)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-125, Blues plus-105; over/under: 5.5 (minus-125, plus-105)

Golden Knights (1-1-0, 2 points; t-6th place, Pacific Division)

Coach: Pete DeBoer (third season)

Points leaders: Max Pacioretty, Chandler Stephenson, Mark Stone (3)

Goals leaders: Max Pacioretty, Chandler Stephenson (2)

Assists leader: Mark Stone (3)

Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (4.21 GAA, .887 save percentage)

Blues (2-0-0, 4 points; t-2nd place, Central Division)

Coach: Craig Berube (fourth season)

Points leader: Jordan Kyrou (6)

Goals leaders: Four players (2)

Assists leader: Jordan Kyrou (6)

Expected goalie: Jordan Binnington (3.50 GAA, .879 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Evgenii Dadonov—Chandler Stephenson—Nicolas Roy

Peyton Krebs—Nolan Patrick—Keegan Kolesar

William Carrier—Brett Howden—Jake Leschyshyn

Defensemen

Alec Martinez—Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb—Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague—Zach Whitecloud

Goalies

Robin Lehner, Laurent Brossoit

Article written by #LasVegasSun

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