Golden Knights bench Colin Miller, activate Nick Holden
The Golden Knights sent Colin Miller to the bench after one of the defenseman’s worst NHL games.
The 26-year-old was a healthy scratch for the first time as a Knight on Wednesday with his former team, the Boston Bruins, at T-Mobile Arena. The benching came two days after Miller was on the ice for every goal in a 3-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche and his minus-3 rating tied the worst of his career.
Miller, the Knights’ second-highest paid defenseman this season at $3.875 million, declined comment Wednesday morning. The move happened days before the league’s Feb. 25 trade deadline, but coach Gerard Gallant said it came from the team’s coaching staff and not the front office.
Miller has 23 points, second-most among Knights defensemen, but a career-worst minus-5 rating. Only Deryk Engelland (minus-10) has a worse plus-minus on the team’s blue line.
Defenseman Nick Holden took Miller’s place against the Bruins after being activated off injured reserve. Holden, also an ex-Bruin, missed the previous 10 games with a lower-body injury and skated on the Knights’ third pair with Jon Merrill.
The team sent defenseman Jake Bischoff to the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves to make room for Holden. Bischoff, 24, was called up Jan. 30 after Holden’s injury and was a healthy scratch nine times.
Bischoff has yet to make his NHL debut, and the Knights chose to demote him to free a roster spot rather than place forward William Carrier, who is week-to-week with an upper-body injury, on IR.
“Jake, he’s a hard working kid with a terrific attitude,” assistant coach Mike Kelly said Tuesday. “Jake will get his opportunity at some point. We don’t know when it will be, but he’s a good player.”
Smile!
The Knights are partnering with TeamSmile, an advocacy group that works to provide dental care to underserved communities, to give treatment to 300 children from Las Vegas schools Thursday at City National Arena.
Center Paul Stastny, who has a few missing teeth, said hockey players know the value of a good dentist.
“Dentists are our best friends,” Stastny said. “It seems like when you’re missing one tooth your face becomes a magnet and you just get hit all the time.”
Vegas born
Knights forward Ryan Reaves welcomed daughter Kamilla to the world Wednesday.
Reaves and his wife, Alanna, also have a son, Kane.
The birth continues a busy year for the 32-year-old, who has a career-high eight goals and 16 points this season. In December, Reaves debuted his new beer — Training Day golden ale — and earlier this month he appeared in a Black History Month video for the NHL.
Odds and ends
■ Forward Ryan Carpenter (IR, upper-body) practiced Wednesday in a non-contact jersey. Carpenter was hurt Feb. 5 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after taking a hard hit from opponent Cedric Paquette.
■ The Capitals placed forward Devante Smith-Pelly, who scored three goals in the 2018 Stanley Cup Final against the Knights, on waivers Wednesday. Smith-Pelly scored a game-tying goal in the third period of Game 5, setting up Lars Eller’s game- and Cup-winning goal 2:31 later.
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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.