The Tampa Bay Lightning will try to complete a two-game regular-season series sweep of the Vegas Golden Knights in the final game of their three-game Western Conference road trip on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
The Lightning, who started the trip with a 4-2 victory over the Utah Mammoth in Salt Lake City, come in off a 3-2 loss to the NHL-points-leading Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night in Denver.
That loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Jon Cooper’s squad. The Lightning gave up two goals in the span of 73 seconds early in the second period to fall behind 3-1 and managed just a third-period goal by Brayden Point the rest of the way.
“The second is (when) they kind of took over,” Point said. “We had a stretch there, I don’t know how long it was for those two goals, but that’s tough to come back from.”
“It was good for a bit, and then we got in our own way,” Cooper said pointing to his team’s five penalties in the contest. “And when we get in our own way, it’s going to be tough for us.
“I loved our first period. It was unfortunate that (there were) untimely penalties. We took those tonight, but they were the better team for periods two and three. So, that was a little disappointing.”
Tampa Bay defeated the visiting Golden Knights 2-1 on Nikita Kucherov’s goal 32 seconds into overtime on Oct. 26 in the first meeting between the teams. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for the Lightning while Carl Lindbom stopped 26 shots in his NHL debut for Vegas, which was playing the second game of a back-to-back.
It’s possible that Lindbom, who was on the losing end of a 4-2 decision to the Avalanche on Halloween afternoon in Las Vegas in his only other start, could be back in the nets on Thursday.
Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said after practice Wednesday that Lindbom and Akira Schmid each will get a start this week for the Golden Knights, who also host the red-hot Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.
Schmid began the season as the backup to Adin Hill, who is now sidelined with a lower-body injury. He has taken advantage of more playing time, going 6-1-0 with a 24-save shutout in a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
It was just the second shutout of Schmid’s career. The first came on Feb. 25, 2023, with the New Jersey Devils against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“Fun,” Schmid replied when asked to describe his feelings afterward. “Tight games like that, I think they’re always fun as a goalie. I think emotions are always high, too. Maybe a little more pressure than other games if you’re up 3-1, 4-1. It was fun.”
Ivan Barbashev scored the only goal of the tight-checking contest in the second period when he put in a rebound of a Brandon Saad shot.
“I thought we played relatively well in front of him,” Cassidy said. “(Schmid) has generally given us a chance to win every time out there, and tonight was no different.”
Thursday’s game is the third game of a season-high six-game homestand for the Golden Knights, who don’t play another road contest until Nov. 15 at St. Louis.
