Recap: The Golden Knights were playing for their third straight as they welcomed in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Midway through the opening period Vegas’ offense came alive. First Nic Roy opened the scoring and a couple of shifts Tomas Hertl notched his fourth goal in two games. Late in the frame Jack Eichel recorded his 23rd goal of the season to give VGK a 3-0 advantage into the 1st intermission.
Late in the 2nd period Tampa finally broke through and cut Vegas’ lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes of action.
The most significant moment in the 3rd period came on a Tomas Hertl breakaway. His shot was saved but a boarding penalty sent him dangerously into the boards. He left the game injured and did not return. Vegas sealed the game with a Nic Hague empty-net goal.
The Golden Knights record improves to 42-20-8 defeating the Lightning 4-2 at T-Mobile Arena. Vegas will pack their bags and hit the road for their three contests beginning in Minnesota on Tuesday. Puck drop against the Wild is scheduled for 5PM PT.(Recap by Jason)
Analysis: VGK played an excellent game in front of both nets, on the rush, and through the neutral zone, and with it came a resounding win over a great Lightning team. The power play continued to shine (including the 2nd unit) as the Golden Knights used an attack mindset to draw them. Tampa’s goalie was quite good, which is why it wasn’t a lot worse.(Recap by Ken)
Upcoming stories from the Vegas Golden Knights vs. Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena.
- What if?… Division champs chances
Ken’s Three VGK Stars
*** Jack Eichel
** Alex Pietrangelo
* Tomas Hertl
Lots of time spent in the D-Zone in this period, but VGK have held up really nicely against a dangerous offensive team. This is the way to win games in the playoffs.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 24, 2025
It's quite nice to have William Karlsson back.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 24, 2025
Here's the rule on boarding.
It's pretty clearly a boarding penalty. Review declared there was not enough "violence" in the hit. pic.twitter.com/w3Ap7FpOTu
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) March 24, 2025
Jose
Let’s hope Hertl’s collarbone or shoulder is not too seriously injured.
JB
Another solid win. Sammy was great. Yea, let’s hope Hertl is ok. I actually thought it was his right wrist he was holding? Anyway, the boys are rolling right now!
Scott
He was holding his right wrist in position so as not to hurt his shoulder any further. Pretty sure this means he has a shoulder separation. If they announce him tomorrow as “upper body injury, week to week,” that is what it is.
TS
Scott, upper body injury.
Shoulder separation likely. My inside guy says as much, but he’s not supposed to say anything, so…..
TS
Jb, i was at tge game, and it did look like Hertl was holding his wrist as he left the ice. We need him to be ok!!
Pistol Pete
What does Cassidy mean by “checking”. Hits? Not
necessarily.
Good checking all game long by everybody. By checking Cassidy does not mean delivering body checks or hits he means checking (aggressively forechecking and backchecking) to both sides of the puck. Aggressively managing the puck. Strong on the puck defensively and offensively. And from the system perspective you keep the opponent predominately to the outside on rushes and protect the front of the net.
Good in front of Samsanov and he was good.
Fingers crossed on Hertl.
Vic
Now that WAS a major. We need some luck with the injury.
Sammy number 1 star as he likely played one of the best games of his life.
The timing for 71 and 19 is almost there.
TS
Vic, do you think the Tampa player was TRYING to injure him and eliminate him in our playoff run? It looked to have been wholly intentional, yet i heard announcers say that “Hertl didn’t seem to be too injured, so…”…does that mean IF Hertl IS injured, can the league fine or suspend the TAMPA player after the fact?
Vic
I don’t think the guy was thinking of our playoff run, but certainly he was trying to hurt Hertl based on the speed, his position and the boards. Guess we should ask Cody Eakin and Joe Pavelski if this was a major. The sad thing is that this ‘major or not a major’ may have the same exact result of derailing a cup run. Very sad.
Larry
Parenthetically speaking yet again on that particularly sore subject, Eakin’s play in the faceoff dot barely would meet the qualifications of a minor let alone a major, and the referee who actually saw it unfold never came close to raising his hand, it took pavelski acting like a WWF wrestler from the 70’s reaching into his uniform for the razor blade to start the blood flow…okay perhaps that last part might be a oh so slight embellishment lol.
NAM
I think “trying to hurt Hertl” isn’t necessarily true. Only the TB guy really knows that answer. Trying to win the moment by doing a known dangerous douchey move is probably more realistic. That is my take. He wasn’t trying to hurt someone, he was trying to win the situation regardless of safety. A split second bad decision.
TS
Vic, I agree thst it surely WAS intentional
.Damn it, anyway!
Frank
Regardless of intent to injure…. he shoved Hertl, at speed – into the boards from 5 feet away resulting in injury (it could have been far worse – think head/neck injury). That is a very dangerous play and should rightfully have been called a 5 min major. I think we have all seen lesser plays that have resulted in 5 minutes in the box.
Jack Hammer
Bruce Cassidy said that Tomas Hertl will be evaluated tonight and tomorrow. Said he’s hoping for good news tomorrow. So, we will see. Cassidy mentioned Hertl might be playing the best hockey of his career right now.
TS
Hertl has impressed us all! And he was blasted for being too slow…shows that experience and smart play are just as valuable. Ditto for Stone. These veterans don’t have to be fast, just play smart.
Richie-Rich
Game 70 Analysis VGK 4, TBL 2
Pacific 1st 42-20-8, 92pts, +47gf/ga, 5pts ahead of both the Kings(2nd) and Oilers(3rd) Kings have won 8 of their last 10 and 3 in a row.
Western Tied for 2nd in pts with the Stars
League Tied for 3rd with the Stars behind the Jets and Caps
With both the Lightning and Golden Knights on a back-2-back with our back up goalie in net, the fan base was expecting a let down against a still very talented Lightning. Turns out the Golden Knights looked like they had the fresher legs in this game, and Samsonov played superbly even though he gave one up very late in the game.
The Tomas Hertl goal was a jaw dropper for Vasilevsky. Hertl’s blast was a surprise and it went by him before his brain even registered that a shot was coming his way. One of the best goals I have seen at The Fortress since year 1, almost as good as Karlsson’s between the legs back hand flip into the net years ago.
Opposing teams are beginning to “take liberties” against our players out on the ice and we are not seeing the appropriate level of response. I missed Kolesar’s slash late in the 3rd so maybe that was it? Using your stick to retaliate? Not sure if that was intentional, I doubt it. Hague promised a beat down that never came.
Defense Grade: A+ tonight
Goaltending Grade: A+ tonight
There are 12 games left in the season, 8 away, 4 home. With this win, I believe the magic number to make the playoffs is now 10, correct me if I am wrong. Next up, the team faces off against the Preds and our ex-Knight, Jonathan Marchessault. We miss him, but let’s not show it!
(12) 25 Mar 5pm at MIN
(11) 28 Mar 5:30pm at CHI
(10) 29 Mar 3:30pm at NSH
(09) 01 Apr 7pm EDM
(08) 03 Apr 7pm WPG
(07) 05 Apr at CGY
(06) 06 Apr at VAN
(05) 08 Apr at COL
(04) 10 Apr 7pm SEA
(03) 12 Apr 7pm NSH (Return of Marchy)
(02) 15 Apr 6pm at CGY
(01) 16 Apr 7pm at VAN
Pistol Pete
Next up is the Wild not the Preds. Preds are Saturday on a B2B following the Blackhawks. Then back home to face the Oilers on Tuesday.
larry
Kudos kudos kudos to holding an elite offensive squad in check for the most part all game…especially thanks to Samsanov in net tonight.
Personally ….after Pavel crushed the iron and then the Captains noggin i didnt see a ‘resounding’ nor dominating performance the rest of the night…tampa was flying and buzzing all night as we were in more of a prevent defense rope a dope mindset which fortunately didnt come back to bite us.
Oh why couldnt Hertl just blast one by #88 and not end up against the boards…sigh!!
Pistol Pete
+/- Hertl line:
Dorofeyev: +10 (137 games): 2024-25 (-2)
Hertl: -5 (76 games): 2024-25 (-3)
Saad: +7 (18 games)
Looks like Saad has helped recently. Cassidy uses him on the PK.
With Hertl out we could be looking at:
Barbashev-Eichel-Stone
Saad-Karlsson-Smith
Olofsson-Howden-Dorofeyev
Pearson-Roy-Kolesar
Theo will be back.
Pistol Pete
Hertl’s +/- with the Sharks:
First six years when they were good: +17
Last five years when they sucked: -88
ThG
lots of cheap hits on VGK players in last two games, and the refs are not doing a thing about it.
The hockey God
if hertyl doesn’t make the plane, then it’s bad==>Capt. Obvious.
Jim
recent games…….so, Stone got a tripping penalty when he never even touched a guy who toe picked. and several high sticking penalties by opponents against Vgk players also in the last few games went uncalled.
and you know that when a ref huddle with Toronto takes a long time, then the call will be the exact opposite of what it should be.. they are just getting their nuanced excuses and ducks in a row.
for cripe sakes, when a player is in a vulnerable position on the ice, i.e. in headfirst danger from a dirty check, and is crosschecked/pushed violently into the boards like Hertl was, THAT is a major penalty, especially when it results in an injury.
except in Gary Buttman’s NHL
period, end of story.
Jim
I notice that Elliot Friedman has written that this terrible call sets a very dangerous precedent for the upcoming playoffs….that now teams will think they can check top players headfirst into the boards and get away with only a minor penalty.
JB
Forgot to mention, hats off for Howie dropping the gloves again. He’s a scrapper when needed. Also, Kolly DID try and get that dude to fight, when he refused, Kolly slashed him as he skated away. (The guy that hit Hertl.)
knights fan in minny
howdy got some good shots in