The hot-handed Vegas Golden Knights will look to keep rolling as they begin a four-game road trip at the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night.
Vegas has averaged nearly five goals a game in winning four of its last five games entering Tuesday’s game.
On Sunday, the Golden Knights edged Minnesota 6-4 behind a pair of goals from Zach Whitecloud. Tied 4-4 early in the third period, Vegas rattled off two unanswered goals to secure an impressive win over the Central Division-leading Wild.
Mark Stone’s power-play goal at 4:42 of the third broke the tie before Alex Pietrangelo put the game away with an empty-netter in the final minute. Robin Lehner earned the win in net despite stopping just 23 of 27 shots.
Chandler Stephenson contributed four assists in his first game back after missing Friday’s game due to the death of his grandmother. Max Pacioretty and Stone each logged a pair of helpers.
“It was a big win,” Stone said. “Obviously, Friday (a 4-3 loss to Philadelphia) wasn’t our best. We had a chance to win that game, but we didn’t have that killer instinct. (On Sunday), I don’t think we let anything rattle us.”
Lehner has faced the Bruins more than any other opponent in his career. The 30-year-old has a record of 5-13-5 with a .924 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average in 24 career games versus Boston.
Golden Knights backup goalie Laurent Brossoit is 0-2-0 with a .885 save percentage and a 3.59 goals-against average lifetime against the Bruins.
Boston finished its three-game Canadian road swing with back-to-back victories and has taken points in five straight games (3-0-2).
On Saturday, the Bruins earned a 4-2 win at Calgary behind a 40-save performance from veteran netminder Linus Ullmark. Brad Marchand netted his team-leading 11th goal early before Charlie McAvoy’s second-period tally held up as the winner.
The Bruins will get their bench boss back on Tuesday after head coach Bruce Cassidy missed the team’s last six games while in the league’s COVID-19 protocol.
Without Cassidy, the Bruins treaded water with three wins in those six games (3-1-2).
“It’s different, that’s for sure. It took me back to when I was coaching in Providence, I’d watch all the Bruins’ games,” Cassidy said. “Predominately, they were doing their thing. They were in the soup in the heat of battle, so I wasn’t going to bother them other than if I saw something obvious.”
Although the Bruins got their coach back, two of their stars were not on the ice for practice on Monday. Veterans Marchand and Patrice Bergeron were given maintenance days, according to Cassidy.
Ullmark and defensemen Connor Clifton and John Moore also missed practice due to COVID-19 testing issues, but Cassidy was hopeful they would be ready for Tuesday’s game.
Ullmark, who has allowed exactly two goals in each of his last five starts, has faced the Golden Knights just once in his career. He stopped 24 of 26 shots in a 4-2 win over Vegas as a member of the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 14, 2020.
Bruins rookie netminder Jeremy Swayman has never faced the Golden Knights.
–Field Level Media