Golden Knights At Wild: 3 Keys To The Game

It's not quite early in the 2017-18 season anymore. In fact, tonight's game against the Minnesota Wild is the Golden Knights' final contest of the month of November.
Despite Tuesday's 3-0 loss to the Dallas Stars at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights are 7-4-1 this month and have already clinched a winning record for the month of November. This is after Vegas went 8-3-0 in October, with the Golden Knights' combined record of 15-7-1 positioning them in first place in the Pacific Division.
At the same time, now that the early part of the season is over, it's time to find out what this team really is. And entering a two-game road trip this week against the Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets -two teams expected to be in the playoffs - the challenges are only getting greater for this team.
Tonight's game is at 5:00 PM. It can be seen on AT&T SportsNet.
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This is Cox channels 313 (SD) and 1313 (HD), DIRECTV channel 684, U-verse channels 757 (SD) and
1757 (HD), and CenturyLink channels 760 (SD) and 1760 (HD).
Dave Goucher and Shane Hnidy will have all the action.
Dan D'Uva will be calling the game on FOX Sports Radio. This is 98.9 FM and 1340 AM.
Here are three keys to today's game.

1. Midseason Grind
It would be a far stretch to say that the Golden Knights have been injury free early this season. With goalie Marc-Andre Fleury out of action since October 13, Vegas has been relying on secondary goaltenders for all but four games this season.
Backup Malcolm Subban also missed a month, and third string Oscar Dansk hasn't played since October 29.
However, other than goaltending, Vegas has been relatively healthy for most of the season. This is no longer the case.
David Perron, the club's leading scorer, has been out of action since leaving midway through last Friday's game against the San Jose Sharks. He didn't make the trip with the club.
Luca Sbisa, who had been playing on a stalwart defensive pair with Nate Schmidt, hasn't played since November 10. He has practiced with the team the last few days and has made the trip to Minnesota, but nothing has been confirmed about his status for tonight's game.

William Carrier, too, missed Tuesday's game against the Dallas Stars.
As these injuries accumulate, as they do for most clubs this time of year, it shakes up a team's lineup. Consistent line combination are broken up by necessity, and players are presented with new opportunities.
With the only certainty right now seeming to be that Perron won't play tonight, it'll be on someone to fill that offensive void on one of the team's top two lines. Look for Alex Tuch to make a splash, especially in his first game against the team that drafted him in the first round in 2014.

2. No Sympathy From Wild
If any team wouldn't have sympathy for the Golden Knights' recent injury woes, it would have to be the Wild.
Minnesota has missed a whopping 60 man games to injury this season. Most notable among these is face of the franchise forward Zach Parise, who skated for the first time since October on Wednesday but has missed the past 24 games after microdisectomy surgery. Parise isn't expected to play tonight.
The Wild have also been without the services of top defenseman Jared Spurgeon, who's been out with a groin injury.
In Minnesota's most recent game, it was walloped by the Winnipeg Jets, 7-2. The Wild have given up 13 goals over the past two games.
At 11-10-3, the Wild are third from the bottom in the Western Conference. And for a team that had 106 points last season and has made the playoffs five straight years, more has been expected.
The Wild are expected to get better at some point. It's the Golden Knights' job to make sure that isn't tonight.

3. Hometown Boys
This season, especially after drafting players from all 30 NHL clubs, the Golden Knights have had "someone" facing their former team on most evenings. And for the most part, these players have consistently come out with loads of adrenalin against their former squads. Tonight, the Golden Knights have three players who are making notable homecomings.
-Erik Haula: A native of Finland, Haula moved to Minnesota when he was a teenager to play high school hockey at the esteemed Shattuck-St. Mary's. This led to a collegiate career at the University of Minnesota, be drafted by the Wild and playing his first four NHL seasons in a Minnesota uniform. Tonight is his first game in Minnesota on the opposing side.
-Alex Tuch: Only played a handful of NHL games for the Wild - all last season - but was drafted in the first round by Minnesota in 2014, and played most of last season for its AHL affiliate in Iowa. Tonight is Tuch's first game against the Wild.
-Nate Schmidt: Never played for the Wild, but grew up a few hours north in St. Cloud and played collegiate hockey in the Twin Cities area at the University of Minnesota.