Welcome to the NHL On Tap, a daily look at the games on the NHL schedule. There are two games on the schedule for Friday, including one nationally televised in the United States and one in Canada:
Games of the day
Vegas Golden Knights at Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m. ET; FDSNSO, SCRIPPS, NHLN, TVAS2)
The Golden Knights and Hurricanes face off in a battle between two of the League's best teams. The Golden Knights (29-12-3) are trying to right themselves after having lost three of four, including 5-3 to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, even though Pavel Dorofeyev scored his first NHL hat trick. The Vegas forward has been hot lately, with five goals in his past two games and leads the Golden Knights with 19 goals this season. Jordan Staal has three multi-point games in his past five for the Hurricanes (26-16-3) and is two points from 700 in his NHL career. He has 698 points (294 goals, 404 assists) in 1,298 games. His brother, Eric, had 1,063 points (455 goals, 608 assists) in 1,365 games and they would become the sixth set of brothers to each score at least 700 points, joining Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Mikko and Saku Koivu, Geoff and Russ Courtnall, Frank and Peter Mahovlich and Maurice and Henri Richard.
Pittsburgh Penguins at Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, MSG-B, SNP, SNE, SN360, TVAS)
The Penguins have lost three straight and have one win in their past eight games (1-4-3) and assigned goalie Tristan Jarry to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday after he cleared waivers. However, Pittsburgh (18-20-8) is within five points of the second wild card in the East. Penguins center Sidney Crosby has 1,040 assists and is one from passing Marcel Dionne for sole possession of 11th on the NHL's all-time list. The Sabres (17-22-5) are 6-3-1 in their past 10 games following a 13-game losing streak (0-10-3), with center Ryan McLeod coming off his first NHL hat trick in a 4-2 win against the Hurricanes on Wednesday.