Date & Time: Sunday, March 23, 8:00 PM ET
Venue: T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Where to watch: ESPN+, SCRI, FDSS
Our Prediction: Vegas 4, Tampa Bay 3
The Vegas Golden Knights will host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a potential Stanley Cup Finals Preview on Sunday, March 23, at the T-Mobile Arena. The Lightning won the first encounter on October 17 when Nikita Kucherov scored the go-ahead goal with 55 seconds left on the clock to help the home team rally for a 4-3 victory at the Amalie Arena in Downtown Tampa.
Center Jack Eichel paces the Golden Knights with 80 points, which ranks seventh in the league. The second overall pick in the 2015 Draft, the 28-year-old has tallied 28 goals and 59 assists for a squad that has posted nearly 400 assists.
Kucherov ranks third in the NHL with 93 points, including 28 goals and 65 assists. The Russian playmaker has averaged 128.5 points over the two previous seasons and became the second Tampa Bay player to have six goals in the first three games of a season.
The Florida Panthers (+550) and the Dallas Stars (+600) currently have the best odds to capture the Stanley Cup this season, according to BetMGM. The Golden Nights (+1100) have the seventh-best odds, while the Lightning (+1200) and the Winnipeg Jets (+1200) are knotted with the eighth-best odds to win this year's NHL championship.
The Golden Knights lead the all-time series 7-6 and have won the past three meetings:
Jake Guentzel — Brayden Point — Yanni Gourde
Brandon Hagel — Anthony Cirelli — Nikita Kucherov
Oliver Bjorkstrand — Nick Paul — Gage Goncalves
Zemgus Girgensons — Luke Glendening — Mitchell Chaffee
Victor Hedman — J.J. Moser
Ryan McDonagh — Erik Cernak
Emil Lilleberg — Darren Raddysh
Goalie: Jonas Johansson or Andrei Vasilevskiy
Tampa Bay reached three straight Stanley Cup finals from 2020-2022 but has been booted in the first round the previous two years by Toronto and Florida. However, the Lightning has continued its tradition of trading top picks for veteran players with sights set on another NHL title.
"I'd rather have a lineup full of good players than bank a ton of draft picks," Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois said.
"At the end of the day what guides us, what drives us, is trying to win a championship and that's really hard. And in order to do that, you need a lot of good players. You can never have too many good players. So, what I'm trying to do is use my draft picks to acquire as many good players as possible to have the best team possible."
The Lightning ended a three-game losing streak on March 15 with a dominant 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins in a contest where the visitors took zero shots for the entire second period.
"It's huge," Darren Raddysh said about snapping the losing skid. "Going into a road trip, if you come out with one point, that's not a good trip. So, coming out with three is great. It's a good win for us to bank it to go home."
"We played desperate," said Lightning coach Jon Cooper. "We played a smart desperate. We got the lead, and even though they tied it we had the mentality to come out and lean on them in the second and we did. Proud of the guys, because we needed this one, and they pulled through."
Brayden Point (32 goals) and Jake Guentzel (32 goals) are the top scorers for a Tampa Bay unit that is second in the league in goals per game with 3.53. Brandon Hagel is having a banner season with 31 goals and 42 assists, while Anthony Cirelli and Nick Paul have combined for 42 goals and an equal number of assists.
Tampa Bay caught fire in early 2025 and since January 7 the Lightning are top-five in both goals scored and goals against. Brandon Hagel has been a top-10 scorer, while Victor Hedman ranks near the top for the most points among all defensemen.
Over the past two months, the Lightning is fourth in the league by points percentage (.708) behind only Dallas, Winnipeg, and Washington. The three-time NHL titleholder also boasts one of the top penalty-killing units in the league since the start of March at 90.5 percent.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevsky has been stellar in the net and has a better save percentage (.938) and more wins (13) than any other NHL starter. Vasilevskiy, who became the fastest goalie to reach 300 NHL wins when the Lightning defeated the Winnipeg Jets last November, ranks second behind Connor Hellebuyck with a 1.90 GAA.
The Lightning are locked and loaded for another deep title run after getting eliminated in the first round the past two seasons. Tampa Bay has a veteran-laden squad overflowing with talented performers. This could be the year that Lightning strikes for the fourth time in Stanley Cup playoff history.
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Mark Stone
Reilly Smith — Tomas Hertl — Victor Olofsson
Pavel Dorofeyev — Nicolas Roy — Brandon Saad
Tanner Pearson — Brett Howden — Keegan Kolesar
Nicolas Hague — Alex Pietrangelo
Noah Hanifin — Zach Whitecloud
Brayden McNabb — Kaedan Korczak
Goalie: Ilya Samsonov or Adin Hill
The Knights completed a dismal 1-1-2 record on an ugly four-game road trip that ended on March 15. The only victory came opposite the only playoff team on the slate, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"We knew we were a tired hockey team," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game.
"Maybe the first shot of the game, if that goes in, maybe that gives us a little something to get excited about," Cassidy explained. "There's a couple opportunities we needed to finish on, and we didn't."
Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev both have netted 27 goals for a Vegas squad seeking its second Stanley Cup trophy in three years.
Hertl is a former first-rounder who has rebounded from a disappointing campaign last season with 55 points and counting. Dorofeyev is enjoying a breakout season and already has a career-high 43 points with three weeks left on the schedule.
Ivan Barbashev has posted 42 points with 19 goals and 23 assists, and Brett Howden has turned 18 goals and 13 assists into 31 points. Right wing Mark Stone has launched 17 pucks into the back of the net while compiling an impressive 41 assists.
Left wing Reilly Smith feels that even though the team has hit a rough patch offensively, he is confident the Golden Knights will improve in areas that need to be stronger.
"There's things we can get better at," Smith said. "Obviously, not getting enough shots the last two games is something we have to get better at. Sometimes that comes by playing a little bit faster, working for each other and working away from the puck."
Goaltender Adin Hill was rewarded with a six-year contract extension through 2030-31 that is worth $6,250,000 annually. The 28-year-old has posted a 2.53 GAA, .906 save percentage, four shutouts, and an overall record of 24-11-4 in 39 games this season.
Vegas has struggled lately but remains a legitimate contender for this year's NHL championship. The dynamic trio of Hertl, Dorofeyev, and Eichel provide the Golden Knights the offensive firepower to compete with Winnipeg, Dallas, and Colorado for Western Conference supremacy.
This showdown between the Lightning and Golden Knights has all the makings of a playoff-caliber battle, with both teams looking to build momentum as the postseason approaches. With elite talent on both sides and a history of tight matchups, fans can expect an intense and closely contested game.
Whether you're watching as a passionate supporter or following along with an added stake through one of the top NHL sportsbooks, this matchup promises to deliver plenty of excitement on the ice.
