Vegas @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2018 ) Vegas 3, Florida 4

The Vegas Golden Knights hope to pull themselves out of a slump when they continue their four-game road trip Saturday against the Florida Panthers. The Golden Knights won seven straight games after Christmas to threaten for first place in the Pacific Division but have dropped five of seven since after Friday's 5-2 loss at Carolina and scored just eight times in those five setbacks.

Marc-Andre Fleury, who leads the league with 27 wins and six shutouts. sat out Friday’s loss but is expected back in the crease for Vegas as he is 16-8-2 with a .925 save percentage against the Panthers in his career. Florida, which split a pair of contests with the Golden Knights last season, saw its three-game winning streak end Friday with a 4-1 loss to Nashville after the organization made a big trade. The Panthers dealt forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann to Pittsburgh for centers Derick Brassard and Riley Sheahan - both of whom will be unrestricted free agents after the season - and three draft picks. “We got two good players that can help us in the run here, that have experience and have talent and fit a need for us,” Florida general manager Dale Tallon told reporters. “We’ve rebuffered from a draft situation for the next two seasons, which is always a helpful thing, and also we freed up a lot of (cap) space for an aggressive summer in free agency. It was kind of like a hat trick for us, and that’s what made this so appealing.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas), FS Florida

ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (29-20-4): Defenseman Shea Theodore scored both goals Friday to push his career-high total to eight this season and has notched 24 points, leaving him five away from matching his career-best total from 2017-18. Alex Tuch was kept off the scoresheet against Carolina despite recording five shots and leads the team with 40 points - including 14 in his last 14 contests. Jonathan Marchessault, who needs one assist to reach 100 in his career, and Max Pacioretty both have registered three goals and an assist in the last four games.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (20-21-8): Sheahan (seven goals, nine points) and Brassard (nine, 15), who is nursing an upper-body injury, did not play Friday and it is uncertain whether or not they will make their debuts against Vegas. Jonathan Huberdeau scored the only goal for Florida on Friday to increase his team-leading total to 50 points - the fourth time in five seasons he has reached that plateau. Captain Aleksander Barkov is second on the team with 47 points, including three assists in his last two games, and Mike Hoffman tops the Panthers with 23 goals.

OVERTIME

1. Florida C Frank Vatrano scored six goals in 11 games last month and has notched 11 points in his last 12 contests overall.

2. Vegas C William Karlsson, who led the team with 78 points last season, has registered just two of his 32 this campaign in the last 12 games.

3. Panthers C Vincent Trocheck was held without a point Friday for the first time in four games since returning from an ankle injury.

PREDICTION: Golden Knights 4, Panthers 2