Tampa Bay Lightning at Vegas Golden Knights

· National Hockey League

Tampa Bay Lightning

40-25-5

Final
2 - 4

Vegas Golden Knights

42-20-8

Hertl continues hot streak with team-leading 31st goal, Golden Knights top Lightning 4-2

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Vegas Golden Knights: Game Highlights

Hertl continued his hot streak one night after netting his second hat trick this season, as he scored his team-high 31st goal midway through the first period to give Vegas a 2-0 lead.

Nic Roy opened the scoring with his 11th goal of the season midway through the first while Jack Eichel scored his 24th to give the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead. Nic Hague added an empty-netter for Vegas while Ilya Samsonov made 35 saves in his 199th career game.

Nick Paul and Nikita Kucherov scored for Tampa Bay while Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.

Takeaways Lightning: The Lightning were closing out a three-game road trip after stops in Dallas and Salt Lake City, including Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Utah Hockey Club. Tampa Bay has now lost five of its last eight.

Golden Knights: Vegas improved to 11-3-2 since Feb. 6. The 24 points are the fifth highest in the league in that span.

Key moment Hertl, who has seven goals in the team’s last four home games, left late in the third period with what appeared to be an upper-body injury. After having his breakaway attempt stymied by Vasilevskiy, Hertl slammed into the boards after being shoved by Tampa Bay defenseman Emil Lilleberg, who was assessed a penalty for boarding.

Up next Golden Knights play at Minnesota on Tuesday to open a three-game trip, and Lightning host Pittsburgh to open a three-game homestand.

Regular Season Series

Series tied 1-1

Scoring Summary

Goal	1st Period 11:02	Nicolas Roy Goal (11) Snap Shot, assists: William Karlsson (13), Alex Pietrangelo (27)
Goal	1st Period 13:33	Tomas Hertl Goal (31) Wrist Shot, assists: Reilly Smith (22)
Goal	1st Period 19:13	Jack Eichel Goal (23) Slap Shot, assists: Zach Whitecloud (8)
Goal	2nd Period 17:38	Nick Paul Goal (21) Snap Shot, assists: Gage Goncalves (9), Darren Raddysh (27)
Goal	3rd Period 17:18	Nicolas Hague Goal (5) Wrist Shot, assists: Alex Pietrangelo (28), Brett Howden (14)
Goal	3rd Period 19:55	Nikita Kucherov Goal (30) Slap Shot, assists: Victor Hedman (42), Brandon Hagel (45)

Statistics

TB		VGK
5	Blocked Shots	12
27	Hits	14
3	Takeaways	2
37	Shots	30
1	Power Play Goals	1
4	Power Play Opportunities	4
25.0	Power Play Percentage	25.0
0	Short Handed Goals	0
0	Shootout Goals	0
33	Faceoffs Won	25
56.9	Faceoff Win Percent	43.1
14	Giveaways	10
5	Total Penalties	5
13	Penalty Minutes	13

Vegas Golden Knights Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Pavel Dorofeyev, RW	Day-To-Day	Dec 13

Tampa Bay Lightning Injuries

NAME, POS	STATUS	DATE
Brandon Hagel, LW	Day-To-Day	Dec 15
Emil Lilleberg, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 15
Ryan McDonagh, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 15
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G	Injured Reserve	Dec 15
Erik Cernak, D	Injured Reserve	Dec 13