The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights are set to face off tonight at 10 p.m. ET at T-Mobile Arena. This marks the second meeting between the two teams in the past week and a half. Tampa Bay won the first game 2-1, with Nikita Kucherov scoring in overtime.
The Lightning (6-5-2) are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, which snapped their five-game win streak. Coach Jon Cooper expressed disappointment with his team's performance in the second and third periods of that game. The Golden Knights (7-2-3) are entering the game with a strong 4-1-1 record at home. They are coming off a 1-0 victory against the Detroit Red Wings.
Here are the projected lineups for tonight's game:
Lightning
- Forwards: Brandon Hagel, Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov / Jake Guentzel, Anthony Cirelli, Gage Goncalves / Oliver Bjorkstrand, Dominic James, Pontus Holmberg / Zemgus Girgensons, Yanni Gourde
- Defense: Victor Hedman, J.J. Moser
- Goalie: Andrei Vasilevskiy is expected to start.
The Lightning may utilize the same 11 forwards and seven defensemen lineup they used against Colorado. Nick Paul is out with an upper-body injury, and Jack Finley and Darren Raddysh are expected to be scratched. Max Crozier was activated from injured reserve ahead of Tuesday's game.
Golden Knights
- Forwards: Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner / Brett Howden, William Karlsson, Reilly Smith / Brandon Saad, Tomas Hertl, Pavel Dorofeyev / Cole Reinhardt, Colton Sissons, Keegan Kolesar
- Defense: Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore / Noah Hanifin, Zach Whitecloud / Jeremy Lauzon, Kaedan Korczak
- Goalie: Akira Schmid. Carl Lindbom may also start this week.
The Golden Knights will be using new forward lines for tonight’s game. Mitch Marner will play on the top line with Eichel, Howden will move to left wing on the second line, and Saad will be on the third line with Hertl and Dorofeyev. Adin Hill is out with a lower-body injury, and Mark Stone is out with an upper-body injury. Alexander Holtz and Ben Hutton are expected to be scratched. Coach Bruce Cassidy said that both Carl Lindbom and Akira Schmid are expected to start at some point this week.
Akira Schmid has a 6-1-0 record this season, with a 2.3 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage. Andrei Vasilevskiy has a 3-4-2 record, with a 2.7 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage.
According to sports betting previews, the total may be too high for this game, and under 6.5 goals is appealing.
