Morning Skate Report: Jan. 11, 2024

The Vegas Golden Knights (23-13-5) return home to face the Boston Bruins (24-8-8) in the second game of a back-to-back on Thursday at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV: Vegas 34
Radio: FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340 | Deportes Vegas 1460
Streaming: KnightTime+

NOTES
The Golden Knights take on the Bruins for the first time this season. Vegas is 3-7-0 in its last 10, while Boston is 5-3-2.

VGK defenseman Brayden McNabb will skate in his 700th game against the Bruins.

VGK MILESTONE WATCH
Brayden McNabb - one point away from 100 as a Golden Knight
William Carrier - two points away from 100 as a Golden Knight

CAREER MILESTONE WATCH
Brayden McNabb - one game away from 700 career games
Michael Amadio – one goal away from 50 career goals
Jack Eichel – two goals away from 200 career goals
Alex Pietrangelo - 12 games away from 1,000 career games

VGK SCORING LEADERS
Jack Eichel – 42 points (18G, 24A)
Mark Stone – 39 points (12G, 27A)
William Karlsson – 32 points (15G, 17A)
Jonathan Marchessault – 28 points (17G, 11A)
Ivan Barbashev – 19 points (9G, 10A)
Chandler Stephenson - 19 points (6G, 13A)

LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Knights fell to the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. The Avalanche scored a goal in each period to earn the 3-0 win. Vegas netminder Jiri Patera stopped 32 of 35 shots, but the Golden Knights were unable to find the back of the net in Colorado.

2022-23 SEASON SERIES
The 2022-23 series between the Golden Knights and Bruins started and finished in less than a week as the two clubs split the season record 1-1-0. Meeting first on Dec. 5 in Boston, the Golden Knighs went into TD Garden and came out with the 4-3 shootout win in the last matchup of a four-game road trip. Paul Cotter's first multi-goal game of his career and a tally from Jonathan Marchessault was matched by three goals from the Bruins in regulation. A scoreless extra frame led to a five-round shootout where Reilly Smith netted the game winner on Boston netminder Jeremy Swayman and Logan Thompson earned a perfect save record in just the second shootout win of his career. Six days later on Dec. 11, the Golden Knights finished out a three-game homestand with a 3-1 loss to the Bruins. Despite Mark Stone tallying the first goal of the game, Boston found the back of the net three times in a row to secure the win leading to the 1-1-0 season series record.

OPPOSITION UPDATE
The Boston Bruins are on a two-game losing streak after dropping back-to-back matchups against the Colorado Avalanche and Arizona Coyotes. The Golden Knights look to hand them their third defeat in a row for just the second time this season. With a 24-8-8 record, the Bruins sit atop the Atlantic Division and are just two points out of the first spot in the league. Boston's David Pastrnak not only leads the club in points with 57, but is tied for third in league in points, holds the fifth spot in goals (25) and is tied for 11th with 32 assissts. As the Bruins deal with injury trouble, Jeremy Swayman is expected to take over the goaltender position with a 2.50 goals-against-average and .920 save percentage.

A VEGAS VICTORY WOULD...
-Mark the 291st win in franchise history
-Improve the Golden Knights' record in the second of a back-to-back to 3-0-0 at home this season
-The Golden Knights' would move into seventh place in the league with 53 points
-Improve the Golden Knights' all-time record against the Bruins to 4-6-1

KEYS TO THE GAME
Depth Scoring: The Golden Knights' pride themselves on their depth. They found it again versus the Islanders and look to use it to their advantage against the Bruins. Head coach Bruce Cassidy explains that depth scoring is "important against anybody, but it's especially important against a team that's probably going to score some goals."

Special Teams: The Golden Knights are 11-2-2 when scoring a power-play goal and preventing their opponent from doing the same. Finding a way to be on the right side of the special teams battle will be a huge factor in their matchup against the Bruins. Whether it's shutting down Boston's top power play or scoring on the man advantage, Vegas needs to locate their special teams chemistry as soon as possible.

Winning Culture: Depsite the recent slump the Golden Knights have found themselves in, the theme in Vegas has always been to win. VGK defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said "We know what it takes. We demand a lot from ourselves. We have a winning culture here and we expect that so we are going to continue to push each other to get to that level."