Following a tough loss, the Vegas Golden Knights will look to right the ship tonight in Tampa Bay as they take on the Lightning. They will do so without the services of Adin Hill or Logan Thompson.
Vegas’ road trip got off to a rough start Tuesday in Carolina when the Golden Knights faced their biggest deficit of the year (five goals), ultimately losing 6-3. It also was the first time this season that the Golden Knights made a goalie change for reasons other than injury; Thompson was pulled after giving up a career-high six goals through the first 44:44.
The Golden Knights had trouble exiting the zone, and special teams was a critical factor in the loss.
“Games like that happen,” Jonathan Marchessault said. “It’s all about how you respond next game.”
The team announced Wednesday night that Thompson is day-to-day; as a result, the club recalled goaltender Isaiah Saville from the Henderson Silver Knights. Whether it’s Jiri Patera or Saville in net, the Golden Knights will have their hands full against Tampa Bay’s high-powered offense.
This will be the first matchup of the year between the Golden Knights (21-7-5) and Lightning (15-13-5). Tampa Bay is coming off a 6-1 victory against St. Louis after returning from a five-game road trip.The Lightning have been much better at home, where they are 9-3-3 (compared to 6-10-2 on the road). Vegas has gone 5-4-3 on the road over the last two months.
Nikita Kucherov has been lighting it up all year. He leads the league in points with 54, six more than the second-place Nathan MacKinnon (48), and is third in goals (23) and second in assists (32). He and Steven Stamkos lead the Lightning with 12 points in the all-time matchup against Vegas.
Jack Eichel is currently on a franchise-high 11-game point streak and will look to extend that tonight in Tampa Bay. He has 14 points in 19 career games against the Lightning.
Vegas won both memorable meetings against the Lightning last season (both of which are summarized below) and holds a 7-3-0 record in the all-time matchup, including a 4-1-0 mark at Amalie Arena.
2022-23 Season series recap
Game #1 (56 of 82): Vegas vs. Tampa Bay (5-4 TBL)
This game, perhaps more than any other in the 2022-23 regular season, foreshadowed what was to come in Vegas’ dramatic and thrilling Stanley Cup run. The Golden Knights were able to respond with quick-strike goals, play stifling defense to shut down Tampa Bay’s explosive offense and hold on to a narrow lead to pull out the victory.
In an insane first period, the two teams scored four goals in the span of just 2:07 on seven combined shots, and the Golden Knights scored three times on their first five shots of the game. The result was a 4-2 Vegas lead going into the second period.
Vegas survived a tremendous surge by the Lightning in the middle frame, holding the opponent to just one goal to take a 4-3 lead into the third. There, the shutdown defense took over, limiting Tampa Bay to just five shots on goal. Vegas made it 5-3 with a late empty-net goal, and Tampa scored with 11 seconds left, but the game had already been won. GAME RECAP
Game #2 (65 of 82): Vegas at Tampa Bay (4-3 VGK, OT)
In another wild matchup, the two teams were deadlocked at 1-1 through 40 minutes, but the Golden Knights scored twice just over three minutes apart to take a 3-1 lead less than six minutes into the third period. However, the Lightning struck twice in the final 2:07 to force overtime.
Ten misconducts were handed out in the third period, leaving both benches thin for the final eight minutes of regulation as well as overtime. But the Golden Knights recovered from the blown lead thanks to a diving play by Alec Martinez to poke a loose puck into the net 3:09 into the extra frame. GAME RECAP
Tonight’s matchup
Vegas Golden Knights
Overall record: 21-7-5
Last 10 games: 7-2-1
Road record: 9-4-3
Goals for: 3.39 (8th)
Goals against: 2.61 (6th)
Power play: 22.8 percent (11th)
Penalty kill: 83.2 percent (8th)
Points leaders: Eichel (37), Mark Stone (33), William Karlsson (29), Marchessault (24)
Goals leaders: Eichel (15), Marchessault (15), Karlsson (14), Stone (10), Ivan Barbashev (8)
Tampa Bay Lightning
Overall record: 15-13-5
Last 10 games: 5-5-0
Home record: 9-3-3
Goals for: 3.36 (9th)
Goals against: 3.48 (28th)
Power play: 30.2 percent (3rd)
Penalty kill: 79.6 percent (17th)
Points leaders: Kucherov (54), Brayden Point (35), Stamkos (34), Victor Hedman (29), Brandon Hagel (28)
Goals leaders: Kucherov (22), Stamkos (15), Point (14), Nicholas Paul (10), Hagel (10)
In the crease
Golden Knights
The Golden Knights recalled Saville from Henderson after announcing that Thompson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Saville was drafted in the fifth round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. It’s likely that Patera will be the starter tonight; if not, it will be Saville’s NHL debut. Patera stopped all 10 shots he faced the other night when he replaced Thompson in the third period, and he won his only start this year (a 5-4 shootout win against San Jose).
Jiri Patera — Record: 1-0-0 | GAA: 2.99 | SV%: .917 | SO: 0
Logan Thompson — Record: 10-5-3 | GAA: 2.71 | SV%: .905 | SO: 0
Lightning
The Lightning were without starting netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy for the first 20 games of the season. He enters tonight’s contest with a 6-5-0 record, alternating wins and losses while giving up an average of four goals per game over his last four starts.
He is coming off his second-best performance of the year based on save percentage (.966), though he shut out Dallas on Dec. 4. He also faced 57 shots against Edmonton last week but willed the Lightning to victory. Among goalies who have played at least eight games this season, Vasilevskiy ranks 33rd with 1.3 goals saved above expected. However, he has covered up a lot of Tampa mistakes and is elite.
He has struggled against Vegas historically, posting a 3-4-3 record with a 3.16 goals-against average and .897 save percentage in the all-time matchup.
Andrei Vasilevskiy — Record: 6-5-0 | GAA: 2.83 | SV%: .904 | SO: 1
Jonas Johansson — Record: 8-6-5 | GAA: 3.47 | SV%: .891 | SO: 2
Keys to the game
Protect the net
With either Patera or Saville in net tonight, the Golden Knights are going to need to do everything they can to make the goalie’s life easier. That includes exiting the zone cleanly, boxing out, cleaning up rebounds, clearing the crease and winning battles. Vegas can’t make careless mistakes and must capitalize on its chances, especially since Tampa Bay has been giving up a lot of them. It will go a long way if the Golden Knights can get the penalty kill back on track and give their goalie some early and sustained goal support.
Return to form
The Golden Knights have gone a combined 3-for-8 while shorthanded over the last two games. Vegas gave up a season-high three power-play goals (on three opportunities) against the Hurricanes on Tuesday, just one game after giving up two goals on five chances to the Ottawa Senators over the weekend.
The Vegas penalty kill has been Vegas’ most consistent strength this season, but it is in the midst of a difficult stretch. The Golden Knights need that to change, though it will be challenging against the third-ranked power play (30.2 percent) in the NHL. On home ice, no team has been more efficient on the man-advantage than the Lightning, who have converted 35.3 percent of their chances.
Take charge
The second period has been an issue for the Lightning this season, particularly during their recent five-game road trip. In that stretch, Tampa Bay was outscored 12-0 in the middle frame.
The second period is normally Vegas’ best, though the Golden Knights lost control of the game in the second period against Carolina. The Golden Knights have otherwise outscored their opponents 40-24 in the second period this season (Tampa Bay: 29-35), and it has been the turning point in many of Vegas’ big wins. The Golden Knights should take advantage of this discrepancy.
That being said, Vegas has to play for 60 minutes.
Tampa is 11-4-0 when scoring first and 4-9-5 when giving up the first goal.
Vegas is 14-1-2 when lighting the lamp first and 7-6-3 when falling into a 1-0 hole.
The Golden Knights are 10-1-1 when leading after the first period, and they are 5-2-3 when trailing after one and 2-4-2 when trailing after two.
Projected lineups
Golden Knights
If Keegan Kolesar is available for tonight’s game, the Golden Knights could revert to established line combinations. Also, head coach Bruce Cassidy may elect to change things up given the results in Carolina.
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Pavel Dorofeyev — Chandler Stephenson — Jonathan Marchessault
Paul Cotter — William Karlsson — Nicolas Roy
William Carrier — Brett Howden — Michael Amadio
Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo
Ben Hutton — Brayden McNabb
Nicolas Hague — Zach Whitecloud
Jiri Patera
Isaiah Saville
Lightning
Nicholas Paul — Brayden Point — Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Steven Stamkos
Conor Sheary — Tyler Motte — Alex Barre-Boulet
Austin Watson — Taylor Jeannot — Michael Eyssimont
Victor Hedman — Erik Cernak
Calvin de Haan — Darren Raddysh
Haydn Fleury — Nick Perbix
Andre Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson
How to watch
Game 34: Golden Knights at Lightning
When: 4 p.m. PT
Where: Amalie Arena — Tampa Bay, FL
TV: Scripps
Radio: Fox Sports 98.9 FM
Statistics courtesy of NHL.com, MoneyPuck, HockeyReference
(Photo of Anthony Cirelli vs. Golden Knights: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)