SALT LAKE CITY – Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy’s line shuffling to find one that sticks will continue Friday night against the Utah Hockey Club.
The Golden Knights are expected to deploy 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the first time this season. But Kaedan Korczak, who skated with the fourth line, might play a little forward.
“We’ll see where ‘Korzie’ ends up playing. He may play forward. So then it wouldn’t be 11-7, so it would be right back to normal,” Cassidy said. “It’s a dad’s trip too. It’s a way to get him in the lineup. We want to accommodate everybody. The objective is to put your best lineup out there and win. ‘Korzie’, he’s played well for us.
“It’s still hockey, but at the end of the day, we know that he hasn’t played there, so we’re not going to grade him out on that. But sometimes learning that, you play that position can help you go back to your old position.”
The two teams met earlier in the season on Nov. 2, which the Golden Knight won 4-3.
Utah Wants To Get ‘Inside’
Utah coach Andre Tourigny sees the Vegas defense as an area that the Utah Hockey Club will need to attack if they want to be successful.
Tourigny doesn’t care how many shots his team puts up. Instead, he wants quality shots to get to the net. That means getting traffic in front of the Golden Knights goalie and creating difficult situations for him.
That starts with boxing out in the front of the net.
“They’re heavy, it’s tough to play inside or defend inside with them,” Tourigny said. “So it’s important to be heavy in front of our net and in our slot.”
Golden Knights Roster Updates
The team sent Grigori Denisenko and Akira Schmid to Henderson of the American Hockey League.
Mark Stone and Nicolas Hague are skating individually but are not expected to play Friday.
Paul Delos Santos is the Las Vegas sports insider for Dice City Sports. Follow him on X at @PaulDelos_.
