The Vegas Golden Knights can clinch their fourth division title in eight years when they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Vegas (48-22-9, 105 points), which has three games remaining, holds a six-point lead over the second-place Los Angeles Kings (45-24-9, 99 points), who have four games left, in the battle for the Pacific Division title. The Golden Knights, who own a 44-40 edge in the regulation wins tiebreaker, can clinch the title with a regulation win over Nashville or a regulation loss by the Kings to visiting Colorado on Saturday afternoon.
Vegas, which is 28-9-3 at T-Mobile Arena, can also equal the franchise record for most home wins in a season (29) set in their inaugural season of 2017-18.
“It’s been a lot of work,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said of closing in on another division championship. “It’s an accomplishment to be able to do it. It’s not easy to do it. Some teams in our division haven’t done it in years, so it’s not automatic. We’ve put a lot of work into it. I’d say it’s very satisfying.”
Vegas, which is 3-0-1 in its last four games, comes in off a 2-1 home win over Seattle on Thursday. Adin Hill made 24 saves to notch his 31st win of the season, William Karlsson scored his 24th career game-winning goal with the Golden Knights and defenseman Brayden McNabb saved the day with 19 seconds with a diving glove save of a Brandon Montour shot by the right post that would have forced overtime.
“I don’t even know (what happened),” McNabb said of the goalmouth scrum. “Next thing you know I was on the ground and the puck was there and I just pushed it away.”
“We find ways to win,” Cassidy said. “We’re a good team. … They’re not all Picasso’s so to speak, but when it’s crunch time, I think our guys understand the value of getting two points and the win.”
Nashville (29-42-8, 66 points), seventh in the Central Division and just 10-25-5 on the road, brings a two-game win streak into the contest following a 4-3 shootout victory over the Utah Hockey Club in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Juuse Saros made 39 saves and also stopped all three shootout attempts, and Filip Forsberg scored the game-winner in the third round of the shootout.
Forsberg scored his 31st goal and Ryan O’Reilly and Nick Blankenburg also scored in regulation for the Predators.
“It’s a lot more fun,” Forsberg said of his team’s win streak. “We’ve got to keep building on what we’re doing. We’re doing a lot of good things and getting a little bit rewarded for it, and hopefully we can do the same thing on Saturday.”
Nashville coach Andrew Brunette rejoined the team in Utah after missing the previous two games to be with his father after a medical incident.
This will be the rubber match of three meetings and the first played in Las Vegas. Nashville, behind two goals and an assist by Steven Stamkos, won the first contest, 5-3, on Jan. 14 while Vegas answered with a 3-1 victory on March 29 with Reilly Smith scoring the game-winner midway through the third period.
–Field Level Media
