Last Sunday, the Vegas Golden Knights skated past the Tampa Bay Lightning with a 4-2 victory, bolstering their leading position in the Pacific Division. Tomas Hertl scored his 31st goal of the season, taking his hot streak up a notch, but left fans anxious as he exited the game with an apparent upper-body injury. According to AP News, Hertl has been instrumental in Vegas' recent success, netting seven goals in their last four home games.

The Golden Knights, now sitting at a record of 42-20-8, are five points clear of their division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers, as per a report by the NHL. Vegas' goaltender Ilya Samsonov made an impressive 35 saves that evening, earning the commendation of his teammate Nicolas Roy, who said, "‘Sammy’ has been really good for us. Player of the game for sure today. … He’s been confident lately and it’s good to see. Really good game from him." Jack Eichel and Nic Roy contributed with key goals as well, with Eichel extending his home point streak to eight games, tallying a total of 15 points.

The Lightning faced challenges throughout their three-game road trip, concluding with their skirmish in Vegas. With this loss, they are now two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic, as the team looks to solidify their standing with only 12 games remaining. "We have 12 games. That's kind of the message in here. Throw out the guys and let's start building something here. It's not just a light switch that turns on 12 games from now. It's got to start now," said Lightning forward Brandon Hagel, as reported by the NHL coverage of the game.

Nic Hague sealed the win for Vegas with an empty-net goal, putting the team at ease despite Kucherov's 350th NHL goal, a power play at 19:55. Tampa Bay's coach, Jon Cooper was critical of his team's late push, stating, "[The pushback] was fine. But pushback for what?" indicating that the team had given their opponents too strong a lead to overcome, as explained in the NHL recap. Hertl's condition remains a concern as Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy revealed, "He's getting evaluated now and again tomorrow. He was sore when he came off, so we'll see. We'll, maybe get good news tomorrow."

Both teams showed strong power-play units, with the Golden Knights ranked 2nd and Tampa Bay 5th, but they only converted 2 of 8 opportunities. The game had its share of penalties and physicality, highlighted by Hertl’s injury after being hit by Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg. Next, the Golden Knights will face Minnesota on Tuesday as they aim to maintain their division lead.