Golden Knights at Canucks preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (37-26-5) at CANUCKS (28-31-9)
10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, CBC, SN, SN1, CITY, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The Golden Knights have outscored opponents 17-7 during their five-game winning streak, including a 3-0 victory against the Canucks on March 3.
Vegas is in third place in the Pacific Division, nine points behind the second-place San Jose Sharks and eight points ahead of the fourth-place Arizona Coyotes.
The Canucks, 2-5-2 in their past nine games and 4-9-3 in their past 15, have scored two goals or fewer in nine of their past 12 games, including three shutouts.
Vancouver is nine points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Players to watch

Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has allowed two goals in winning his past four starts with a .982 save percentage and two shutouts. He will tie Rogie Vachon (795 games played) for 17th place on the NHL all-time list and is one win from passing Jacques Plante (437) for sole possession of eighth place all-time.
Canucks center Elias Pettersson has three assists in his past eight games but leads the Canucks and all NHL rookies with 57 points (26 goals, 31 assists) in 57 games.

They said it

"He's a great goalie. The guy has won three Stanley Cups and he's calm and cool and he gives our team a lot of confidence." -- Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant on Marc-Andre Fleury
"I have been skating for a while now and it definitely feels good to be back with the guys and in the room and it's a big game tonight. I'll be counting down the minutes." -- Canucks forward Jake Virtanen on returning after missing 10 games with two fractured ribs

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- Paul Stastny -- Mark Stone
Tomas Nosek -- Cody Eakin -- Alex Tuch
Ryan Carpenter -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Nate Schmidt -- Deryk Engelland
Brayden McNabb -- Shea Theodore
Jon Merrill -- Colin Miller
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Brandon Pirri, Valentin Zykov, Nick Holden
Injured:Erik Haula (lower body), William Carrier (upper body)

Canucks projected lineup

Josh Leivo -- Elias Pettersson -- Brock Boeser
Antoine Roussel -- Bo Horvat -- Jake Virtanen
Tanner Pearson -- Adam Gaudette -- Nikolay Goldobin
Loui Eriksson -- Jay Beagle -- Tyler Motte
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Derrick Pouliot -- Alex Biega
Ashton Sautner -- Luke Schenn
Jacob Markstrom
Thatcher Demko
Scratched: Tim Schaller, Guillaume Brisebois , Markus Granlund
Injured: Ben Hutton (foot), Ryan Spooner (groin), Chris Tanev (ankle), Brandon Sutter (lower body), Sven Baertschi (concussion)

Status report

Nosek replaces Pirri after being a healthy scratch the past three games. … Tanev skated with the Canucks for the first time since his injury but will miss his 11th straight game.

Stat pack

Smith has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Horvat has no points in his past five games.