GAME DAY: Golden Knights’ Colin Miller to play vs. Penguins

Defenseman Colin Miller, who missed the past 13 games with an upper-body injury, will be in the lineup when the Golden Knights open a three-game homestand Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at T-Mobile Arena.

Opening faceoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be televised on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.

Miller officially was activated from injured reserve Saturday afternoon, and the team placed goaltender Malcolm Subban on IR, according to the NHL media website.

“He’s a big shot on the power play. He’s played real good for us all year long,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said after a morning skate at City National Arena. “If he’s back in our lineup, we definitely welcome him back, for sure. He’s an important player for us.”

Miller suffered an upper-body injury Dec. 17 at Columbus and was placed on injured reserve.

Miller has two goals and 15 assists in 36 games and is projected to partner with Nick Holden on defense for the Knights (28-17, 4, 60 points).

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is the probable starter against his former team. He is 1-1 with a 3.03 goals-against average and a .905 save percentage against the Penguins, but didn’t play Oct. 11 when Phil Kessel had three goals in a 4-2 Pittsburgh victory.

No other lineup changes are expected against the Penguins, who defeated Arizona 3-2 in overtime Friday and have won 11 of their past 14.

Pittsburgh concludes a five-game, 12-day trip and begins its bye week Sunday.

“They definitely have the high-level talent, but they work hard and they compete hard,” Gallant said. “I think their season sort of mirrors ours a little bit. They had a tough start to the year, and they’ve played really good hockey the last 25 or so games. I think these teams are very comparable in that sense.

“But they’re a hard-working team. They compete and they battle hard, and they follow their captain’s work ethic.”

Sidney Crosby, the captain, leads the Penguins with 56 points (20 goals, 36 assists).

Pittsburgh (26-15-6, 58 points) is two points out of first place in the Metropolitan Division and holds the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Winger Jake Guentzel scored his team-leading 24th goal at Arizona and has 11 goals in the past 12 games.

Goaltender Casey DeSmith is in line to start after Matt Murray was knocked down several times in Friday’s win at Arizona.

“They’ve got a lot of skill out there,” said Knights forward Ryan Reaves, who was acquired from Pittsburgh in February. “You’ve got to slow down their skill and play physical on their skill. It’s the only way really to slow down that team.

“Their firepower up front and even on the back end is very dangerous if you give them too much room.”

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Brandon Pirri

Max Pacioretty-Paul Stastny-Alex Tuch

Oscar Lindberg-Cody Eakin-Ryan Carpenter

Tomas Nosek-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb-Nate Schmidt

Shea Theodore-Deryk Engelland

Nick Holden-Colin Miller

Goaltender