The big news from this morning's skatearound is that Gerard Gallant has the flu. No, really.
Gallant already revealed yesterday that he expected Marc-Andre Fleury to make his first start in two months tonight (he will). Shea Theodore will draw in for Brad Hunt. Besides that, there will be no line-up changes.
Gallant did warn, however, of the dangers of, um, holiday shopping.
When you're at home, especially during the holiday season, you have to make sure you're getting prepared to play these games and stay focused. You're not out running around Christmas shopping all the time.
Tonight's tilt against Carolina kicks off five straight at home, culminating in a match-up with the Capitals on December 23rd.
I did ask Gallant about his juggling of penalty-killing combos. Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare and Reilly Smith were his first-choice PK forwards for much of the season, but recently, Gallant has tried Bellemare with Tomas Nosek and Smith with William Karlsson.
I caught up with Deryk Engelland to find out how the Golden Knights will counter the Hurricanes' zealous forecheck. I also asked if Fleury's Pranks/60 will increase or decrease with the fun-loving goalie's return.
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Deryk Engelland
HockeyBuzz: Carolina is known to be a zealous forechecking team. What's the trick for breaking out of the zone with a team like this?
Deryk Engelland: We have five guys, everyone has to [be available to] be a way out.
We have to come back hard, get pucks quick.
If we can support each other, make those little plays, and everybody is way out, that's going to be our best chance.
HB: You have to do this with every team, but in particular with a team like Carolina which is so quick on the puck, you have to execute. One pass off, and they're going the other way, right?
DE: Yeah, we have to limit our turnovers. Take what's given, and if there's nothing there, get it deep, get in on the forecheck. We've done a good job forechecking. They have a lot of skill and speed.
HB: There's always a flip side, of course. I imagine with an aggressive forechecking team like the Hurricanes, if you can get the puck behind their forecheck, you'll have more outnumbered attacks, that sort of thing.
DE: We haven't seen the pre-scout on them. It's been a while since I've played them. But any aggressive team, their D are involved everywhere, you have to make one, two passes, get it by them.
HB: Of course, Marc-Andre is back. Would you say his Pranks Per 60 have increased or decreased when he's been out? You know what they say about idle hands being the devil's workshop.
DE: I don't think he's been to busy with those right now. But I'm sure they're going to come around.
HB: So he was focused on his rehab, no time to goof around?
DE: It's tough. Different times, we're on the road. It's tough to pull stuff off, I guess.
HB: But now he's back, you guys have to watch out?
DE: Yeah, I'm sure we do.
HB: I bet he'll come back strong in this department this year.
DE: I'm sure he will.
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Gerard Gallant
HockeyBuzz: Recently, you've changed up your PK combos, going from Bellemare-Smith to Bellemare-Nosek. What do you like about the new combos?
Gerard Gallant: We switched it up a couple games ago. Just to change it up. So far, it's worked pretty good. We're going to stay with that for a little while.
To be honest with you, we were talking about that [change] for a while back.
Sometimes, Smith and Bellemare, one of those guys, they go out on the kill and they're tired [when they re-join their regular line]. So we try to keep the same lines, as much as we can do that. Nosek and Bellemare play on the same line. Smith and Karlsson on the same line.
(HockeyBuzz note: Bellemare/Smith was last used on December 1st against Winnipeg. The Vegas PK gave up three PP goals that night. Bellemare/Nosek and Smith/Karlsson debuted on December 5th. Since then, the penalty kill has allowed just one goal in 10 attempts.)
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