3. “Veggie”
Utah goalie Karel Vejmelka is excelling in his first NHL playoff series. He’s 2-1 with a 2.36 goals-against average and .916 save percentage after making 30 saves in a 4-2 win in Game 3.
“It’s huge, I think,” Crouse said. “There has been a lot of talk about the (penalty kill), but (Vejmelka) has been our best (penalty killer). He’s the backbone of our PK when he’s making those saves. And yeah, all season long, especially of late, he’s been giving us a chance to win, and it energizes our group, especially when he comes up with a massive save for us. It gives you life. You can really build off that.”
Vegas goalie Carter Hart is 1-2 with a 3.10 GAA and .892 save percentage after allowing four goals on 12 shots in Game 3.
Golden Knights projected lineup
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Pavel Dorofeyev
Reilly Smith — Mitch Marner — Mark Stone
Brett Howden — Tomas Hertl — Keegan Kolesar
Cole Smith — Nic Dowd — Colton Sissons
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin — Rasmus Andersson
Jeremy Lauzon — Kaedan Korczak
Carter Hart
Adin Hill
Scratched: Braeden Bowman, Trevor Connelly, Ben Hutton, Brandon Saad, Akira Schmid
Injured: William Karlsson (lower body), Jonas Rondbjerg (lower body)
Mammoth projected lineup
Clayton Keller — Nick Schmaltz — Lawson Crouse
Kailer Yamamoto — Logan Cooley — Dylan Guenther
JJ Peterka — Alexander Kerfoot — Michael Carcone
Liam O’Brien — Kevin Stenlund — Brandon Tanev
Mikhail Sergachev — MacKenzie Weegar
Nate Schmidt — John Marino
Ian Cole — Sean Durzi
Karel Vejmelka
Vitek Vanecek
Scratched: Daniil But, Kevin Rooney, Nick DeSimone, Dmitri Simashev, Matt Villalta
Injured: Barrett Hayton (upper body)
Status report
Forwards Bowman and Connelly were recalled from Henderson of the American Hockey League on Sunday. They practiced with the Golden Knights but are not expected to play Game 4. … The Mammoth held an optional morning skate.
