GAME DAY: Look which Knights defenseman is back tonight

Defenseman Nate Schmidt will be in the lineup when the Golden Knights host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena, coach Gerard Gallant confirmed.

Opening faceoff is 7 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain.

Gallant said following practice that wing Alex Tuch had not been cleared but also was expected to play.

Tuch will be making his season debut after he sustained an upper-body injury during the second period of the Knights’ exhibition game against Los Angeles on Sept. 27.

He produced a career-high 20 goals and 52 points last season.

Schmidt was injured in a knee-on-knee collision with San Jose’s Logan Couture with 10:28 remaining in the first period of the season opener Oct. 2.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was announced as the starter for the Knights (8-5-0, 16 points). He is 8-3-0 with a 2.29 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage.

In 40 career appearances against the Canadiens, the Sorel, Quebec, native is 22-13-4-1 with a 3.06 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage.

Left wing Max Pacioretty, who spent 10 seasons with the Canadiens before being traded to the Knights on Sept. 9, 2018, is one point shy of 500 for his career.

Montreal (6-4-2, 14 points) scored in the opening 90 seconds of all three periods on its way to a 4-1 victory at Arizona on Wednesday in the first game of a back-to-back. Goaltender Carey Price made 32 stops against the Coyotes, leaving Keith Kinkaid in line to start against the Knights.

The Canadiens did not announce their starting goaltender.

“We watched their game last night, they played real well,” Gallant said. “Last year they played a great game against us. They beat us in this building last year. It was a real fast, fast game. Montreal’s a good, talented team that’s going to work their tails off.

Brendan Gallagher, playing in his 500th career NHL game, tallied 22 seconds into the first period at Arizona and shares the team lead with six goals.

Gallagher and left wing Jonathan Drouin each have 11 points (six goals, five assists) to pace the Canadiens in scoring.

Forward Nick Suzuki, who was part of the deal for Pacioretty, has three goals and two assists in 12 games for Montreal.

Montreal is tied with the Knights for seventh in the league on the power play at 25 percent.

“They’ve always been a smaller and faster team. That’s kind of been their identity there for years. Obviously, something that matches up well against big Western teams,” Pacioretty said. “I feel like we play more of an East style. We play a fast forechecking game. We’re not going to outskill teams by trading chances. More of a grind mentality, so I think we play pretty similar to them.”

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty-Paul Stastny-Mark Stone

Cody Glass-Cody Eakin-Alex Tuch

William Carrier-Tomas Nosek-Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb-Nate Schmidt

Jon Merrill-Shea Theodore

Nick Holden-Deryk Engelland

Goaltender

Marc-Andre Fleury