The Vegas Golden Knights will be hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight and will have to do so without Alex Pietrangelo.
The Vegas Golden Knights will be hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight and will have to do so without Alex Pietrangelo.
The veteran defenseman was confirmed by HC Bruce Cassidy to be out of the lineup with an illness.
Pietrangelo is a key component of the defence core at 5-on-5 but also on the penalty kill and without him tonight the Golden Knights could be in tough against a Lightning power play that ranks first in the NHL.
The Lightning score on 28.9% of their opportunities. Nikita Kucherov leads the league in power-play points. Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman are also among the league leaders in power-play points.
The 34-year-old defenseman has been playing alongside Noah Hanifin since he was traded to the Golden Knights and the two have started to find chemistry and comfort playing with each other.
The Golden Knights will miss his veteran presence on the back end tonight in a very important game. The Golden Knights are tied in points with the Los Angeles Kings but the Kings hold the tiebreaker over them. The Kings also take on the Chicago Blackhawks who are 31st in the NHL tonight. The Golden Knights also have to worry about the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild who are making strong pushes for the final wild-card spot that the Golden Knights currently hold. The Blues are on a four-game winstreak and are four points back while the Wild are five points back.
Nicolas Hague will play with Noah Hanifin tonight. Paul Cotter will also check into the lineup tonight for Pavel Dorfeyev. Cassidy said that Dorofeyev is dealing with something minor but had planned to insert Cotter.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 P.M at T-Mobile Arena.
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