Canucks at Golden Knights preview

CANUCKS (23-30-7) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (40-16-4)
10:30 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, SNP, NHL.TV

The Golden Knights, 4-1-0 in their past five games and 8-4-0 in their past 12, lead the Nashville Predators by one point for the top record in the Western Conference, and with a win would pass the Tampa Bay Lightning for the best record in the League. Vegas trails Tampa Bay by one point.
The Canucks are 2-6-1 in their past nine games and have lost six of their past seven road games. Vancouver trails the St. Louis Blues by 19 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Center Sam Gagner will return to the Canucks lineup after missing seven games with an ankle injury.

Players to watch

Canucks forward Bo Horvat has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games.
Golden Knights forward Ryan Carpenter has scored all six of his goals this season in his past nine games, and has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"From everything I've heard … guys on other teams I'm friends with that have played against them, say it's a great atmosphere, so I'm looking forward to it tonight." -- Canucks forward Thomas Vanek on playing at Vegas for the first time
"They're all talented guys. [Vancouver] is playing with panic right now, but you've got to make sure you don't give them time and space to make plays." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant

Canucks projected lineup

Nikolay Goldobin -- Bo Horvat -- Brock Boeser
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Thomas Vanek
Darren Archibald -- Brandon Sutter -- Loui Eriksson
Sven Baertschi -- Sam Gagner -- Jake Virtanen
Alexander Edler -- Erik Gudbranson
Michael Del Zotto -- Troy Stecher
Philip Holm -- Derrick Pouliot
Anders Nilsson
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched: Reid Boucher, Ben Hutton
Injured: Brendan Gaunce (foot), Markus Granlund (ankle), Chris Tanev (lower body)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
David Perron -- Erik Haula -- Alex Tuch
Ryan Carpenter
-- Cody Eakin -- Tomas Hyka
Stefan Matteau -- Oscar Lindberg -- Tomas Nosek
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Luca Sbisa -- Deryk Engelland
Colin Miller -- Jon Merrill
Marc-Andre Fleury
Maxime Lagace
Scratched: Brendan Leipsic, Brad Hunt
Injured: Malcolm Subban (upper body), James Neal (illness), Shea Theodore (illness)

Status report

Holm will make his NHL debut. … Neal and Theodore are game-time decisions for the third straight game.

Stat pack

Baertschi has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak … Smith has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past nine games. … Marchessault has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past nine games.