Golden Knights at Senators preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (6-8-1) at SENATORS (6-6-3)
7:30 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The 19-year-old rookie forward hasn't played since he tore a ligament in his left leg during a 4-1 win against the Dallas Stars on Oct. 15. Tkachuk, the No. 4 selection by the Senators in the 2018 NHL Draft, has six points (three goals, three assists) in four games.
Goalie Craig Anderson will start for Ottawa; he is 6-4-3 with a .909 save percentage in 14 games.
Marc-Andre Fleury will start in goal for the Golden Knights, who are 2-4-1 in their past seven games.

Players to watch

Fleury is 5-3-1 with a .923 save percentage and two shutouts in his past nine starts.
Senators forward Mark Stone has 10 points (two goals, eight assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"Eventually the tide is going to turn. When we're getting that many pucks on net and starting to get better quality chances, they're going to start going in." -- Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore
"He's a big boy. Full of energy. I think he brings an aspect of grittiness to our game, of being a hard-nosed player, underneath other team's skins, going to the net hard, making it difficult for teams to defend against. And I think we've kind of missed some of that in our lineup." -- Senators goaltender Craig Anderson on the return of Brady Tkachuk

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- Cody Eakin -- Alex Tuch
Tomas Nosek -- Oscar Lindberg -- Ryan Carpenter
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Brayden McNabb -- Colin Miller
Nick Holden -- Brad Hunt
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched:Tomas Hyka, Jon Merrill
Injured:Paul Stastny (lower body), Erik Haula (leg)
Suspended:Nate Schmidt

Senators projected lineup

Ryan Dzingel -- Matt Duchene -- Mark Stone
Brady Tkachuk -- Chris Tierney -- Mikkel Boedker
Nicholas Paul -- Colin White -- Bobby Ryan
Tom Pyatt -- Magnus Paajarvi
Thomas Chabot -- Dylan DeMelo
Max Lajoie -- Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki -- Christian Jaros
Chris Wideman
Craig Anderson
Mike McKenna
Scratched: Max McCormick, Erik Burgdoerfer
Injured: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (Achilles), Ben Harpur (undisclosed), Zack Smith (facial fracture)

Status report

Haula will miss at least three games with a leg injury sustained in a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday but will travel with the Golden Knights ... Ottawa will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the eighth time this season. ... Coach Guy Boucher said Smith could return next week. ... Ottawa sent forward Jack Rodewald back to Belleville of the American Hockey League.

Stat pack

The Golden Knights are last in the NHL on the power play (11.8 percent; 6-for-51). The Senators are 28th on the penalty kill (15-for-50, 70.0 percent). … Chabot has 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) in his past nine games and leads all NHL defensemen in scoring with 20 points (four goals, 16 assists) in 15 games. Tierney will play his 300th NHL game.