Alex Tuch and the Buffalo Sabres Against Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights Preview

The Vegas Golden Knights look to stay hot against the Buffalo Sabres Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.

Betting line: STN Sports has the Golden Knights as a minus-240 favorite with an over/under of 6.5. The public supports the Golden Knights at a 78%-22% split per covers.com.

Key storyline: This game is not Alex Tuch vs. Jack Eichel, but it is to a degree. Players always like to stick it to their former teams. Tuch had a very nice run with the Golden Knights and fans will appreciate seeing him back in T-Mobile Arena. Eichel had a hat trick against his former team last season.

About the Golden Knights (20-5-5, 45 points): The Golden Knights are 6-1-3 in their last ten games, on a four-game winning streak, and have points in nine consecutive games. Outside of players missing games due to injuries, the only concern for the Golden Knights currently is the workload of Logan Thompson. Thompson had 11 appearances through the first seven weeks of the schedule and has five appearances in the last 10 days. The Golden Knights brought Adin Hill back to balance starts and to keep both goalies fresh.

Adin Hill and Alec Martinez returned to practice on Thursday. Martinez was in a non-contact jersey and the general rule of thumb with coach Bruce Cassidy is at least one practice in a regular jersey before returning to the lineup. Hill is not expected back until next week’s road trip.

Shea Theodore remains on LTIR with no potential return date. Kaeden Korczak will miss “some time” per coach Cassidy.

Expected Lines

Barbashev-Eichel-Stone
Cotter-Karlsson-Marchessault
Howden-Stephenson-Amadio
Carrier-Roy-Kolesar

Hutton-Pietrangelo
Hague-Whitecloud
McNabb-Pachal

Thompson

Golden Knights to watch: Can Chandler Stephenson make it four straight games with a goal? Ivan Barbashev had just six points in the first twenty-one games of the season and has seven points in the last nine games. What does Mark Stone have in mind for an encore of Tuesday’s four-point performance?

About the Sabres (12-15-3, 27 points): The Sabres were hoping to take a step forward from last season’s 91-point performance that saw them miss the playoffs by just one point. Unfortunately, it seems like they have taken two steps backward. Tuch enters the game with 17 points (eight goals) in 23 games.

Time: 7:00 p.m. PST.
TV: Vegas 34 (Scripps Sports)
Streaming: KnightTime+
Radio: FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340