GAME DAY: Golden Knights look to stay unbeaten in preseason
LOS ANGELES — The Golden Knights look to remain undefeated in the preseason when they face the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday at Staples Center.
The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
“The first two exhibition games I’ve liked a lot,” coach Gerard Gallant said.
The Knights routed Colorado 5-1 on Tuesday in Denver, as Erik Brannstrom and Alex Tuch each finished with a goal and an assist. In two preseason games, the defending Western Conference champions have outscored their opponents 12-3.
Brannstrom will make his third consecutive appearance on defense. The 19-year-old from Sweden has a team-high four points (two goals, two assists) in the preseason.
The first line of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith also will play together for the first time in the preseason.
“We want to see them develop and get better. For the young kids, that’s what we want to see. Open their game,” Gallant said. “For our veteran players, we want to see them getting ready for the regular season. It’s a week into camp now and guys look real good. I’m really satisfied with what I’m seeing right now from all our players. Young kids and our veteran players. The first week’s been excellent for us so far.”
Los Angeles is icing a split squad, with the other half of its roster playing in Vancouver.
Defenseman Drew Doughty is expected to be in the lineup for the Kings, along with their top forward line of Anze Kopitar, Ilya Kovalchuk and Dustin Brown.
Jonathan Quick and Cal Petersen are listed as the Kings’ goaltenders.
Golden Knights projected lineup:
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith
William Carrier-Oscar Lindberg-Tomas Nosek
Daniel Carr-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Keegan Kolesar
Stefan Matteau-T.J. Tynan-Brandon Pirri
Defensemen
Brad Hunt-Deryk Engelland
Nicolas Hague-Jake Bischoff
Erik Brannstrom-Griffin Reinhart
Goalies
Oscar Dansk and Maxime Lagace
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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
