{"id":424511,"date":"2026-01-23T23:54:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/424511\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T23:54:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T23:54:28","slug":"marner-golden-knights-prepare-as-star-winger-returns-to-toronto-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/424511\/","title":{"rendered":"Marner, Golden Knights prepare as star winger returns to Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

The day of reckoning has finally come for Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

On Friday, arguably the most hyped game of the season for the Golden Knights commences when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs.<\/p>\n

Venue: Scotiabank Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada<\/p>\n

How To Watch:\u00a0ESPN+, SCRIPPS<\/p>\n

Marner got a taste of what the reaction will be like against the Leafs, when the boo birds migrated south when the two teams faced off<\/a> on Jan. 15. Now that the season series has shifted to Toronto, the vitriol is sure to reach a near-unprecedented level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to look back anymore,\u201d Marner said, per Chris Johnston of The Athletic<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t want to look in the past. If you do look back, you\u2019re not focused on what\u2019s in front of you. Not to kind of not answer (your question), but I feel like I answered that in the summertime and I\u2019m focused on what\u2019s going on right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with the surefire emotional turmoil surrounding the game, here is how the Golden Knights can secure two points against their sudden rival.<\/p>\n

Outside of Marner, the Golden Knights received some good news regarding Rasmus Andersson.<\/p>\n

After a lengthy immigration battle, the newly-acquired defenseman is set to make his Golden Knights debut against the Leafs. Jaycob Megna was sent down to Henderson in a corresponding roster move. Expected to take his old spot beside Noah Hanifin on defense, the Golden Knights hope Andersson can be the catalyst to get back on the winning track.<\/p>\n

Despite a rough showing<\/a> against the Boston Bruins last time out, the Golden Knights came away with some positives.<\/p>\n

Mark Stone broke the franchise record for most consecutive games with a point at 13, while Jack Eichel made it ten games in a row with a point in his own right. Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev have also continued their battle for the team\u2019s goal-scoring lead, with both potting their 21st tallies of the season. A heavy third-period push should hopefully give the Golden Knights the momentum needed to get out in front early and dictate the pace of the game.<\/p>\n

In the goaltending matchup, the Golden Knights might get a case of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs have announced that goaltender Anthony Stolarz will start tonight, marking his first NHL action since Nov. 11. In the first game between the teams, the Golden Knights put Adin Hill in a similar situation, and Toronto managed to get five goals past him. Expect the offense to push Stolarz early, testing him and seeing just how much damage they can do in the early going.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The day of reckoning has finally come for Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights. On Friday, arguably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[1042,149,5317,5,1041,1040,533,4,2880,3327,1261,31,4972,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-424511","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-adin-hill","9":"tag-golden-knights","10":"tag-goldenknights","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-jack-eichel","13":"tag-mark-stone","14":"tag-mitch-marner","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-pavel-dorofeyev","17":"tag-rasmus-andersson","18":"tag-tomas-hertl","19":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","20":"tag-tst-las-vegas","21":"tag-vegas","22":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","23":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115947114698061271","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}