Vegas has its own absence to deal with. Mitch Marner has been away from the club for the birth of his second child and missed 2 straight games, including the Columbus loss. He has 12 points in 11 games, 10 of them assists, and without him the Golden Knights' offense has stalled. Whether he is back for puck drop at 7:00 PM PT is the biggest open question on the Vegas side.
The skid is the bigger worry in Vegas. Before Columbus edged them 2-1 past regulation, the Golden Knights had given up 6 goals in back-to-back games, the second a 6-2 loss to St. Louis. Then they flipped it around and couldn't score, getting 1 goal past a Columbus blue line missing Provorov, Fabbro and Lundestrom before 40 scoreless minutes. Earlier this month Vegas had won 4 straight before Minnesota ended it, so this roster has shown it can play better than it has this past week.
Ottawa's 8-4-0 start is real, but it was built on one of the best goaltending runs in the league to open the season, and that support is gone for now. The Senators are also still without Thomas Chabot on the back end and lost William Eklund for 10-12 weeks after ankle surgery. That leaves a lineup that has to win with offense, against a home team that has spent a week either bleeding goals or not scoring them.
What decides it is pretty simple. If Ottawa's backup can keep this under the 6-goal nights Vegas has been handing out lately, the Senators' scoring depth gives them a real chance in the desert. If Marner is back and the Golden Knights' attack wakes up against a goalie who isn't Ullmark, this is the kind of night a skid ends at home.