Jack Eichel was the latest Vegas Golden Knights player to miss a game due to injury or illness when he was scratched before VGK's 3-1 loss to Calgary Saturday night. On Sunday, Eichel was placed on the IR Sunday, which means he will be out of the VGK for the next two games. Eichel got his left leg caught to avoid a hit from the Bruins Matt Grzelcyk and lost his steel blade on his left skate. Eichel has to be helped off the ice by teammates and said he was fine following the hit. Eichel returned to the ice and scored his 19th goal of the season. He said he was fine after the game, but the injury could have flared up the following day.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights continued to have a scoring drought with another makeshift lineup in the loss to the Flames. After the Golden Knights allowed two quick goals over two minutes in the opening period to Calgary, VGK saw two pucks - off the sticks of Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbeshev - ring off the crossbar. Chandler Stephenson scored the only VGK goal, his first in eleven games. Jonathan Marchessault said he felt VGK played a good game, but as he said afterwards, "At the end of the day we have to find a way to score some goals. There's not enough guys in front of their goalie," he said.
VGK is bringing up Brendan Brisson from AHL Henderson for Monday's matinee against the Nashville Predators. The winger scored twice in the preseason, but this will be his NHL regular season debut. He said this is something you dream about your whole life. "I'm grateful for the opportunity," Brisson said. Brisson scored 10 goals for the Silver Knights before his callup.
Monday's Martin Luther King Day matinee faces off at 3pm. VGK seems to be playing teams that are heating up before their matchup. Nashville is 14-5-1 after a slow start. The Golden Knights will need to shut down the Predators leading scorer Filip Forsberg who has 47 points, including 22 goals. This will be Nashville's third game in four days.