Vegas Golden Knights Vs. Tampa Bay Lightning: Date, Time, TV, More
Arguably the toughest test of the year awaits the Vegas Golden Knights who take on the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena tonight.
It has been a good couple of weeks for the Vegas Golden Knights who have won three consecutive games, while they traded for two-time Stanley Cup champion Alec Martinez from the LA Kings on Wednesday.
However, the Golden Knights’ newfound confidence will be tested tonight by the Lightning, who have set a franchise record with 11 straight wins.
Recovering from a sluggish start to the regular season, Tampa Bay have finally settled into their groove and they are crushing teams left, right and center.
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The Lightning (40-15-5) are now second in the NHL and second in the Atlantic, just three points behind the Boston Bruins.
And a lot of Tampa’s success over the last 11 games has boiled down to Nikita Kucherov, who is currently riding a 14-game point streak.
The superstar leads the Lightning in points with 73 (29 goals, 44 assists), while nine players have recorded 30 or more points for Tampa this year.
That highlights the sheer depth that is on this roster and Tampa only got more stacked this week after trading for forward Blake Coleman.
The Lightning sent high-end prospect Nolan Foote and a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft to the New Jersey Devils for Coleman, who has 21 goals and 10 assists for 31 points in 57 games for the Devils this year.
However, the Lightning will be without top-line center Brayden Point, who is struggling with flu and won’t play tonight.
That is a significant blow for Tampa Bay given that Point is third on the team in points with 57 (21 goals, 36 assists).
But, in saying that, the Tampa Bay Lightning are still loaded and they rank high in a number of categories.
For starters, the Lightning are first in the NHL in Goals For Per Game, scoring at an incredible clip of 3.55 per game.
They are 5th in Goals Against Per Game (2.65), which is thanks in large part to Andrei Vasilevskiy who is 32-9-3 this year with a 2.42 Goals Against Average and a .921 Save Percentage.
Vasilevskiy is set to start in net for Tampa Bay tonight.
The Lightning also excel on the special teams given that they rank 7th on the power play (23.2), and they rank 5th on the penalty kill with a 83.3 success rate.
All in all, the Tampa Bay Lightning are red hot right now and they will pose the Golden Knights with arguably their toughest test of the year.
Speaking of the Vegas Golden Knights, they will be going in search of their fourth consecutive win on this homestand tonight.
They have already knocked off the St. Louis Blues, the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals, while they appear to be finally settling into a groove under Head Coach Peter DeBoer.
Marc-Andre Fleury will go in net tonight while there will be a Vegas Golden Knights debut for Alec Martinez, who was acquired from the LA Kings on Wednesday for a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and a second-round selection in 2021.
Martinez will skate on a paring with Jon Merrill tonight, and it will be interesting to see how Martinez adapts to his new surroundings against one of the best teams in the NHL.
Head-To-Head
Tonight’s game is the second and final game of the season series between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The first meeting actually took place only two weeks ago with the Lightning emerging as 4-2 victors at Amalie Arena.
Projected Lineups
Let’s look at today’s Starting Lineups, per nhl.com:
Tampa Bay Lightning
Steven Stamkos – Tyler Johnson – Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat – Anthony Cirelli – Alex Killorn
Blake Coleman – Mitchell Stephens – Yanni Gourde
Pat Maroon – Cedric Paquette – Carter Verhaeghe
Mikhail Sergachev – Kevin Shattenkirk
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Scratched: Cameron Gaunce
Injured: Brayden Point (illness), Jan Rutta (lower body), Ryan McDonagh (lower body)
Vegas Golden Knights
Jonathan Marchessault – Paul Stastny – Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty – William Karlsson – Mark Stone
William Carrier – Cody Eakin – Chandler Stephenson
Tomas Nosek – Nicolas Roy – Ryan Reaves
Jon Merrill – Alec Martinez
Marc-Andre Fleury
Scratched: Deryk Engelland
Injured: Alex Tuch (lower body)
Game Info
Here is all the essential information you need to know prior to faceoff…
Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: T-Mobile Arena – Las Vegas
TV Broadcast: AT&T Sportsnet
Radio: FOX Sports 98.9/1340 | Deportes Vegas 1460
Live Streaming: ESPN+ has a free 7-day trial that includes live streaming for this game on all your smart devices! Besides NHL games, ESPN+ features a selection of live games from MLB, MLS, Serie A, FA Cup, and EFL. Get in on the action with Live UFC Fight Nights, 30+ Top Rank Boxing cards, Grand Slam tennis from Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open.
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Finishing Off
This is a real tough test for the Vegas Golden Knights who are playing their best hockey of the year right now.
However, they will have to play an almost perfect game in order to get the better of the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning, who have won a franchise-record 11 straight.
This should be a mouthwatering contest to watch between two contenders, and Alec Martinez’s debut adds another wrinkle to it.