Golden Knights at Canadiens preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (7-8-1) at CANADIENS (8-5-3)
7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The forward and former Canadiens captain has two goals in 12 games for Vegas, which acquired him in a trade with Montreal for forward Tomas Tatar, forward prospect Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Pacioretty had five 30-goal seasons and 448 points (226 goals, 222 assists) in 626 games through 10 seasons with the Canadiens from 2008-18.
Vegas, which is 3-4-1 in its past eight games, will look for its third win in four games.
Goalie Antti Niemi will make his fifth start for Montreal, which has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. He is 3-1-0 with a 3.13 goals-against-average and .893 save percentage.

Players to watch

Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is 6-3-1 in his past 10 starts with two shutouts, a 2.00 GAA, .921 save percentage and two shutouts.
Canadiens forward Max Domi has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak, and 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"I'm just worried about the game. This game is too important to our team to get caught up in anything other than winning. So my level of emotion is focused on this game." -- Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty
"For him it was a fresh start, for us it's to move on, but there's no doubt there's a lot of appreciation for what he's done here over the years. And I would anticipate the fans to appreciate him for all the time he's put in here and what he's done for this organization." -- Canadiens coach Claude Julien on Pacioretty

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- Cody Eakin -- Alex Tuch
Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Carpenter -- Tomas Hyka
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Colin Miller
Shea Theodore -- Nick Holden
Jon Merrill -- Brad Hunt
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Deryk Engelland, Oscar Lindberg
Injured: Paul Stastny (lower body), Erik Haula (leg)
Suspended:Nate Schmidt

Canadiens projected lineup

Tomas Tatar -- Phillip Danault -- Brendan Gallagher
Jonathan Drouin -- Max Domi -- Kenny Agostino
Artturi Lehkonen -- Jesperi Kotkaniemi -- Andrew Shaw
Nicolas Deslauriers -- Matthew Peca -- Charles Hudon
Jordie Benn -- Jeff Petry
Karl Alzner -- Mike Reilly
Xavier Ouellet -- Victor Mete
Antti Niemi
Carey Price
Scratched: Noah Juulsen
Injured:Joel Armia (knee), Paul Byron (lower body), Shea Weber (knee), David Schlemko (knee)

Status report

Engelland took part in the morning skate; Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant did not rule him out from returning after missing the past two games for personal reasons. … The Canadiens did not hold a morning skate.

Stat pack

Theodore has five points (one goal, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Tuch has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past four games. ... Tatar has three goals in two games. … Drouin has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games.