Golden Knights Take on Lightning without Hill and Thompson

The Vegas Golden Knights continue their three-game road trip with new faces in the lineup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

Betting line: Draft Kings has the Golden Knights as a slight underdog at minus-105 with an over/under of 6.5. The public slightly favors the Lightning by a 55%-45% split per Covers.com.

Key storyline: Adin Hill left Sunday’s game just minutes into the first period due to injury and is day-to-day. Logan Thompson was announced Wednesday night as day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The Golden Knights about about to enter game No. 34 without their No. 1 and No. 2 goaltenders. “These are young guys, we always going to play the same way.” Coach Bruce Cassidy on how the team should approach with lesser experienced goaltenders. “We’re the only team in the NHL starting a tandem of undefeated goaltenders.”

About the Golden Knights (21-7-5, 47 points): The Golden Knights enter Thursday’s game on top of the Pacific Division but the lead has dwindled to just one point over the Vancouver Canucks. The Los Angeles Kings have a slightly better points percentage at .714 vs. the Golden Knights’ .712.

The Golden Knights had possibly their worst outing of the season Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. The final score read 6-3 in favor of the Hurricanes due to two late, garbage-time goals by the Golden Knights.

The lines could be a mystery until warmups. The expected lines below are from Tuesday’s game against the Hurricanes. It would not be a surprise if Pavel Dorofeyev was scratched and Jonas Rondbjerg took Keegan Kolesar’s place on the fourth line. That would allow coach Bruce Cassidy to get the lines back to what they have been for the last few games.

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

Hutton-Pietrangelo
McNabb-Martinez
Hague-Whitecloud

Patera

Golden Knights to watch: Jack Eichel is on an 11-game point streak. Eichel leads the Golden Knights with 37 points (15 goals). Mark Stone is on track to surpass his career-high points set in 2014-2015 when he had 64 points. Stone is on pace for 82 points.

All eyes will be on Jiri Patera. Patera is 1-0 in two appearances this season with a 2.99 GAA and .917 SV%. Can Patera carry the mail in the absence of Hill and Thompson? Will the Golden Knights give Isaiah Saville a start on the road trip?

About the Lightning (15-13-5, 35 points): The Lightning enter Thursday’s game in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games. This is the second of a two-game homestand for the Lightning who defeated the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday 6-1. Nikita Kucherov has 54 points (22 goals) in 32 games. Andrei Vasilevskiy figures to draw the start and is 6-5 with a 2.83 GAA and .904 SV%.

How to watch
Time: 4:00 p.m. PST.
TV: Vegas 34 (Scripps Sports)
Streaming: KnightTime+
Radio: FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340