Golden Knights Gameday 65: Goalie Gore: Lines and Notes vs Lightning

The Vegas Golden Knights (38-20-6, 82 points) will continue their current four-game road trip Thursday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Lightning (38-21-5, 81 points) at 4:00 p.m. to conclude the season series. 

The VGK are currently on their fourth-string goaltender with Jonathan Quick taking the reins as the starter. All of Robin Lehner, Logan Thompson, Laurent Brossoit, and now Adin Hill are out with lower-body injuries. Jiri Patera was recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights this morning as a result.

This is the final game of the season series between these two teams with the VGK currently up 1-0. They are being pressured in the standings by the Los Angeles Kings who are tied for them in points. They will play the Colorado Avalanche at 9:00 p.m. tonight.

What to Watch For

Quick or Bust

With three goaltenders injured, the Golden Knights now turn to Jonathan Quick as the starter for the next batch of games. He is 1-0 in his short Golden Knights tenure, as he defeated the Montreal Canadiens with 25 saves on 28 shots. Recalled this morning, Jiri Patera is expected to back up.

He now faces a Lightning team who has scored three or more goals in 12 of their last 13 home games.

Struggling Lightning

The Tampa Bay Lightning most recently snapped a five-game winning streak that saw head coach Jon Cooper bench his star-studded first line of Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos, and Brayden Point. Victor Hedman's status is also currently unknown with an injury.

Streaking Stars 

Since returning from the All-Star Break, two Golden Knights players have been white hot, Jack Eichel and Shea Theodore. Theodore has 13 points in his last 13 games and Eichel is currently on a four-game point streak with 15 points in his last 13 games.

Projected Golden Knights Line Combinations

Ivan Barbashev- Jack Eichel- Jonathan Marchessault

Reilly Smith- William Karlsson- Michael Amadio

Paul Cotter- Chandler Stephenson- Phil Kessel

Brett Howden- Teddy Blueger- Keegan Kolesar

Nicolas Hague- Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb- Shea Theodore

Alec Martinez- Zach Whitecloud

Jonathan Quick/Jiri Patera

Golden Knights Special Teams

PP1: Stephenson, Marchessault, Smith, Eichel, Pietrangelo

PP2: Barbashev, Karlsson, Kessel, Amadio, Theodore

PK1: Karlsson, Smith, McNabb, Pietrangelo

PK2: Stephenson, Blueger, Whitecloud, Martinez

IR/Scratches

Nolan Patrick, Robin Lehner/Mark Stone (c), Logan Thompson, Laurent Brossoit, Will Carrier, Adin Hill/Ben Hutton, Pavel Dorofeyev

Projected Lightning Line Combinations

Steven Stamkos- Brayden Point- Nikita Kucherov

Brandon Hagel- Anthony Cirelli- Alex Killorn

Ross Colton- Nick Paul- Tanner Jeannot

Patrick Maroon- Michael Eyssimont- Corey Perry

Victor Hedman- Zach Bogosian

Mikhail Sergachev- Nicklaus Perbix

Ian Cole- Erik Cernak

Andrei Vasilevskiy/Brian Elliott

Lightning Special Teams

PP1- Killorn, Point, Kucherov, Stamkos, Hedman

PP2- Perry, Paul, Colton, Hagel, Sergachev

PK1- Cirelli, Paul, Hedman, Bogosian

PK2- Jeannot, Perry, Sergachev, Cernak

IR/Scratches

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Haydn Fleury

How to Watch/Listen

4:00 p.m. on AT&T Sportsnet, ESPN+ and Fox Sports 98.9 FM Radio.