GAME DAY: Golden Knights, Sharks clash in season opener
The Golden Knights begin the regular season Wednesday, as they host rival San Jose at T-Mobile Arena.
Opening faceoff is 7:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on NBC Sports Network.
“There’s no surprises tonight,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We know this team, they know us. We’ve played them enough the last couple of days and the last couple months. It should be fun. But it’s exciting to get the season going.”
Center Cody Eakin was ruled out for the opener with an upper-body injury, paving the way for rookie Cody Glass to make his NHL debut.
Glass was the No. 6 overall pick in the 2017 draft and would be the first player drafted by the Knights to appear for the club in an NHL game. He took line rushes during Wednesday’s morning skate between left wing Max Pacioretty and right wing Mark Stone.
“I felt like they did a really good job with my development, kind of made me the player I am today,” Glass said. “Now that I’m at this point, it’s crazy. It’s not too long ago that I just got drafted, so it’s kind of a fun thing to look back on.”
Marc-Andre Fleury was announced as the starter in net for the Knights, who won both preseason matchups against the Sharks by a combined score of 8-2. Sunday’s exhibition finale featured 114 penalty minutes between the clubs.
San Jose’s Evander Kane was ejected for abuse of officials and suspended three games by the NHL on Tuesday. He can appeal the ruling.
With Kane expected to be unavailable, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer shuffled his lines and put rookie forwards Danil Yurtaykin and Lean Bergmann in top-six roles.
This is the first of two consecutive games between the teams, with the rematch taking place Friday at San Jose.
The Sharks eliminated the Knights during a memorable seven-game Western Conference quarterfinal series in April, adding fuel to the rivalry.
Golden Knights projected lineup
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty-Cody Glass-Mark Stone
Brandon Pirri-Paul Stastny-Valentin Zykov
William Carrier-Tomas Nosek-Ryan Reaves
Defensemen
Brayden McNabb-Nate Schmidt
Jon Merrill-Shea Theodore
Nick Holden-Deryk Engelland
Goaltender
Marc-Andre Fleury
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.