Golden Knights at Ducks preview

The Golden Knights, tied with the Arizona Coyotes for first place in the Pacific Division, are 4-1-1 in their past six games and 9-3-2 in their past 14. 

Goalie Malcolm Subban will start for Vegas; he's 6-1-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in his past eight starts. 

Center Ryan Getzlaf (illness, two games missed) and forward Jakob Silfverberg (illness, one game missed) will return for the Ducks, but forward Rickard Rakell will miss his second straight game because of an upper-body injury. 

Anaheim is 1-3-0 in its past four games and 4-7-1 in its past 12. The Ducks are 3-6-0 since their last win in regulation, a 4-2 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 12.

Players to watch

Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games.

Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"I thought we were in a rut the first 15 games of the season. We were playing OK hockey, but I just didn't see the same as I did in Year One and Two and, lately, I've seen it a lot better. We're picking up our pace a little bit, and our transition game is better." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant

"With our structure, especially if there happens to be injuries and sicknesses, if you play simple, if you play as a team, you have a chance to win every single night." -- Ducks defenseman Michael Del Zotto

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Mark Stone

Max Pacioretty -- Paul Stastny -- Alex Tuch

William Carrier -- Chandler Stephenson -- Reilly Smith

Cody Glass -- Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt

Nicolas Hague -- Shea Theodore

Nick Holden -- Deryk Engelland

Malcolm Subban

Marc-Andre Fleury

Scratched: Jon Merrill

Injured: Cody Eakin (upper body)

Ducks projected lineup

Devin Shore -- Ryan Getzlaf -- Daniel Sprong

Sam Steel -- Adam Henrique -- Jakob Silfverberg

Max Comtois -- Sam Carrick -- Ondrej Kase

Nicolas Deslauriers -- Carter Rowney -- Korbinian Holzer  

Hampus Lindholm -- Josh Manson

Cam Fowler -- Erik Gudbranson

Michael Del Zotto -- Jacob Larsson

John Gibson

Ryan Miller

Scratched: None

Injured: Nick Ritchie (knee), Troy Terry (knee), Derek Grant (shoulder), Rickard Rakell (upper body)

Status report

Glass will return after missing the eight games with a concussion. He was injured in a 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers on Dec. 8. ... Fleury, who needs one win to tie Curtis Joseph (454) for sixth place on NHL all-time list, will start against the Coyotes on Saturday.

Stat pack

Stone has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in his past eight games . ... The Ducks are 1-7-1 against the Golden Knights and have yet to defeat them at home (0-4-0).