Golden Knights forward David Perron close to return

Injured Golden Knights forward David Perron was back in his maroon practice jersey Monday at City National Arena alongside linemates Erik Haula and James Neal.

Whether Perron is skating with them against Anaheim on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena remains to be seen.

“He’s not cleared yet,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “I’ll know a lot more (Tuesday) after practice.”

Perron was placed on the injured-reserve list after he suffered an upper-body injury Nov. 24 during a collision with San Jose’s Timo Meier early in the second period of the Knights’ 5-4 victory.

Perron wore a red, noncontact jersey during the Knights pregame skate Sunday and stayed on the ice afterward to work with injured goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. He was a full participant in Monday’s practice.

“We’ll talk with the doctors and everything, but it shouldn’t be too far out now,” Perron said. “I took some one-on-ones at the end of practice in the corner, feeling the contact a little bit. Get guys pushing me in the boards, things like that, and it felt pretty good.”

Perron was the second-leading scorer for the Knights when he went down, and his absence has been noticeable on the power play. The Knights are 0 for their last 12 with the man advantage and 1-for-15 overall in the past five games.

Perron also spoke candidly about the play in which he was injured, and called Meier’s shoulder thrust at the end of the hit “unnecessary.”

“Honestly, I kind of ran into him, and I get that part,” Perron said. “But, for me, when you see a guy who’s vulnerable like I was, you just kind of try to slow him down a little bit or do anything you can to not get the high part of the body.

“I thought he kind of leaned his shoulder in, and kind of for no reason, for me, but I’ll get over it.”

Fleury update

Fleury appeared on the ice at the end of practice Monday and worked with Knights goaltending coach Dave Prior for the second straight day.

The veteran goalie, who suffered a concussion Oct. 13, remains on track to return to the team this week.

“They’re building it up, and that’s all I know,” Gallant said. “It’s slowly and it’s a process, like (general manager) George (McPhee) mentioned (Sunday).”

Special guests

The Knights will have company on their upcoming road trip.

The traditional Dad’s Trip will take place in Nashville (Friday) and Dallas (Saturday), as 21 of the players’ fathers will travel with the team and experience life on the road.

The fathers are coming from as far as Finland (Erik Haula) and Sweden (Oscar Lindberg). In addition to attending the games, they’ll visit the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville and AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

Day off

Jonathan Marchessault, who had a goal and set up Reilly Smith’s overtime winner Sunday against Arizona, did not practice (illness). He is expected to play Tuesday against the Ducks.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.