Canucks at Golden Knights preview
Vancouver in second of back to back; Vegas goalie Fleury to play 821st NHL game
by Danny Webster / NHL.com Independent Correspondent
CANUCKS (16-13-4) at GOLDEN KNIGHTS (17-13-5)
8 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV
The Game
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to start for the Vegas Golden Knights and play in his 821st NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Fleury will pass Sean Burke (820) for 14th place in NHL history among goalies and try to help the Golden Knights win for the seventh time in 10 games. They're coming off a 3-2 overtime victory against the Dallas Stars on Friday.
The Canucks are 4-5-0 in their past nine games and play the second of a back to back after a 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday. Goalie Michael Dipietro will likely start for Vancouver.
Players to watch
Canucks center Elias Pettersson has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his past 15 games.
Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty, their leader with 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists), is on a three-game goal streak.
They said it
"I thought we played a good game for 40 minutes. Our start wasn't good enough, and we were playing catch-up for the rest of the game. We've got to find a way to start off the bat and play as well as we did the last 40 minutes." -- Canucks captain Bo Horvat on the game Saturday
"We've talked about our division. It might not be the top division for points, but it's real close together and any team can beat you any given night. [The Canucks] are a real young team that's really come about and really played well this season." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant
Canucks projected lineup
Tanner Pearson -- Bo Horvat -- Josh Leivo
J.T. Miller -- Elias Pettersson -- Jake Virtanen
Antoine Roussel -- Adam Gaudette -- Brock Boeser
Tim Schaller -- Jay Beagle -- Brandon Sutter
Tyler Myers -- Christopher Tanev
Jordie Benn -- Troy Stecher
Quinn Hughes -- Jalen Chatfield
Jacob Markstrom
Scratched: Tyler Motte, Guillaume Brisebois, Oscar Fantenberg, Loui Eriksson
Injured: Alexander Edler (upper body), Tyler Graovac (lower body), Micheal Ferland (upper body), Thatcher Demko (concussion)
Golden Knights projected lineup
Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- Chandler Stephenson -- Mark Stone
Valentin Zykov -- Paul Stastny -- Alex Tuch
William Carrier -- Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Jon Merrill -- Shea Theodore
Deryk Engelland -- Nick Holden
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: None
Injured: Cody Glass (upper body), Cody Eakin (upper body), Nicolas Hague (illness)
Status report
Vancouver did not hold a morning skate. ... Motte was activated from injured reserve and forward Zack MacEwen was reassigned to Utica of the American Hockey League … The Canucks placed forward Sven Baertschi on waivers Sunday. … Ferland was placed on long-term injured reserve Saturday. … Hague is likely to miss his third consecutive game. … Glass is day to day and Eakin remains week to week.
Stat pack
Miller does not have a point in three consecutive games after scoring in his previous eight. … Marchessault is one goal and Tuch one point from 100 in the NHL.