Vegas Golden Knights vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Pick & Prediction OCTOBER 17th 2024
Preview and Prediction
It's common knowledge which trio the Vegas Golden Knights will depend on when they travel to face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.
The first line of Ivan Barbashev, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone has tallied seven goals and 16 assists in the first four games, contributing to the Golden Knights' three victories.
"They have been our most productive line, and they should be," stated Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. "They are the catalysts."
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Last season's leading goal scorer for the Golden Knights, Jonathan Marchessault, signed with the Nashville Predators during the offseason, while the third-highest goal scorer, William Karlsson, is currently on injured reserve with an undisclosed injury. Two other offensive-minded players from last year's team, Chandler Stephenson and Michael Amadio, are also playing for different teams.
Vegas had no trouble finding the back of the net in their first three games, scoring a total of 15 goals, but were limited to just two goals in a 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday in the first game of a three-game road trip.
"I don't think we skated as well as we wanted to," said Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. "You could use the excuse of the long flight, but we don't make excuses. We just didn't execute our game plan."
One of Vegas' key offseason acquisitions, forward Victor Olofsson, left the game against the Capitals with six minutes remaining in the third period after appearing to injure his leg.
"He was just trying to chase down a puck and get there first, and they got tangled up," Cassidy explained. "I don't have an update on his condition. It didn't look good when he left the ice, so hopefully it's not too serious."
Olofsson, who scored his third goal of the season earlier in the game, was often a healthy scratch for the Buffalo Sabres last season. However, the Golden Knights are hoping he can replicate his success from the 2022-23 season, when he scored 28 goals in 75 games with Buffalo.
The Lightning are coming off a 4-1 victory against the Vancouver Canucks in their home opener on Tuesday, which was delayed due to Hurricane Milton.
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Tampa Bay captain Victor Hedman raised a Tampa Bay Strong flag while his teammates tapped their sticks on the ice. After the game, an emotional video was shown, highlighting the events of the previous week.
"I love this city. It feels like home," said Lightning forward Brayden Point. "My daughter was born here. It's been my home for nine years now. It's tough to see what's going on, but I'm so grateful that people came out."
Nikita Kucherov has recorded four goals and an assist in the first two games for Tampa Bay.
Point has also been impressed with the play of Jake Guentzel, who was traded to the Lightning on June 30 from the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.
Guentzel, who had two 40-goal seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2016-2024, has three assists so far.
"He's incredibly intelligent," Point said of Guentzel. "He has the talent to make plays, but he's also smart. He knows where to be on the ice. He creates time and space for himself. He battles hard and wins a lot of those battles. It's been a lot of fun playing with him."
Vegas Golden Knights vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots to pick up his league-leading 27th victory, and Steven Stamkos scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period to lead the host Tampa Bay Lightning to their fourth straight victory, 4-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Johnson and Alex Killorn also scored goals for Tampa Bay, which improved to 16-2-1 in its last 19 games. Nikita Kucherov and Ondrej Palat each added two assists as the Lightning improved to 9-0-0 against Pacific Division teams this season while extending their home win streak to seven games.
Vasilevskiy improved to 14-0-2 in his last 16 starts, tying the team record for longest point streak of 16 games set by Nikolai Khabibulin (12-0, four ties) set in 2003.
Paul Stastny and William Carrier scored goals, and Brayden McNabb had two assists for Vegas, which had a two-game winning streak snapped. Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 14 saves.
Tampa Bay, playing its first home game since a 4-3 shootout win over Los Angeles on Jan. 14, took a 1-0 lead midway through the first period on Point's first goal in 11 games. Point, left alone in the high slot, took a pass from Kucherov and then fired a wrist shot past Fleury's blocker side for his 19th goal of the season.
Vegas tied it five minutes later when Carrier fired a wrist shot from the high slot past Vasilevskiy's glove side for his sixth goal of the season and first in 15 games.
The Lightning took a 2-1 lead at the 17:57 mark of the period on a double-deflection of a Palat shot. It was redirected by Anthony Cirelli in the slot and then again by Johnson in front of the crease and inside the right post for his 13th goal of the season.
Vegas tied it early in the third period when Stastny redirected Jonathan Marchessault's shot past Vasilevskiy's right pad for his fourth goal in six games and 16th of the season.
Stamkos then put Tampa Bay back ahead to stay midway through the period with his 24th goal of the season, deflecting Point's spinning shot from the top of the slot past Fleury's glove.
Vegas pulled Fleury for an extra attacker with 2:07 remaining, and Killorn sealed the win with an empty-netter with 44.7 seconds remaining.