Las Vegas – The Route des Golden Knights de Vegas in order to return to the strongest of the struggle in their second round series of the western association against the EDMONTON Oilers could become a little more winding.
Brayden MCNABB may not be available for match No. 3 in the Four seven series which is transported on the side of Rogers Place d’Edmonton on Saturday (9 p.m. He CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, TRUTV, Max). The defender suffers from an upper body injury.
McNabb was injured at 15:03 of the extension when he collided with the ramp after being struck by the striker of the Oilers Viktor Arvidsson. McNabb collected three assistance mentions and spends an average of 21:14 per game on ice, including 2:29 in numerical inferiority, which earned him the second row among the Golden Knights behind defender Alex Pietrangelo (2:58). He also leads Vegas with 20 blocked shots.
The Golden Knights accuse a 2-0 delay in the series after losing the first two duels at T-Mobile Arena. This is the second time in their history that they have lost the first two duels of a series, after having done the same against the Colorado avalanche in the second round in 2021, but they had won this series in six games.
Vegas could also be deprived of Nicolas Roy, who must have an audience with the Department of Security of the Players for his double-layout at the place of the striker of the Oilers Trent Frederic during the defeat of Vegas 5-4 in overtime on match No 2 Thursday.
The Quebec striker received a major punishment and a partner’s misconduct for his gesture, which occurred at 5:37 of the surface period.
“We have to forget that,” said the coach of the Golden Knights Bruce Cassidy on Friday. In the end, no one cares about it, if you can say. We just have to be ready for match No. 3.
The team could however bet on good news.
The Golden Knights could review the striker Pavel Dorofeyev in uniform for match No. 3. He trained with the team Thursday morning, but above all worked with the players left aside. Dorofeyev will accompany the team to Edmonton and a decision will be made just before the match as to their participation.
Dorofeyev has missed the last three games due to an injury whose nature has not been disclosed in match No. 5 against the Wild of Minnesota in the first round.
He was the leader of the Golden Knights with 35 goals in 82 games in the regular season, and added two points (one goal, a pass) in two playoff games.
“He has a chance to play tomorrow, this is the news we have received today,” noted Cassidy. It is encouraging. »»
Even if Dorofeyev had to reconnect with the action, the Golden Knights will still need their support players play a more important role. The attackers Mark Stone (four), Tomas Hertl (three) and Brett Howden (three) are the only Vegas players with more than one goal in their file during the first games of the spring tournament.
“They did their part,” said Cassidy. If we go around the locker room, we probably need a few guys to raise their game from a notch. We would like to see a player knowing a match at the Mikko Rantanen is obvious. But we do not retain our breath. If it happens, so much the better. But several players may feel that they can give a little more.
“The moment would be well chosen. »»
