Golden Knights at Lightning preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (29-11-3) AT LIGHTNING (31-10-3)
7:30 p.m. ET, SUN, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The Lightning have won nine of their past 11 games at home and are 14-4-1 since Dec. 1. They lead the Atlantic Division with 65 points, seven more than the Boston Bruins and six more than the Washington Capitals of the Metropolitan Division for first in the Eastern Conference.
Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov leads the NHL with 60 points (27 goals, 33 assists) and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy leads the League with 27 wins.
The Golden Knights are first in the Pacific Division with 61 points, seven more than the San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames, and two more than the Winnipeg Jets of the Central Division for the best record in the West. The Golden Knights are 0-1-1 in their past two games after going 14-1-1 in their previous 16.
Vegas rallied for a 4-3 win against the Lightning at T-Mobile Arena on Dec. 20.

Players to watch

Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault has 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 12 games.
Lightning forward Tyler Johnson has six points (four goals, two assists) during a four-game point streak.

They said it

"[The Lightning] play fast. They play the same style we want to play, and I think it's a matter of managing the puck well. If we do that, we'll be fine. It's a tough building to come in. It's loud and they have great fans and a really good team." -- Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault
"[Vegas] is a very good team. I thought they outplayed us the last time we played them. We're really focused on trying to be more aware of how they attack. We didn't do a good enough job of staying on top of their defenseman, and they created a lot of scoring chances on the rush." -- Lightning center Steven Stamkos

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith
David Perron -- Erik Haula -- James Neal
Brendan Leipsic -- Cody Eakin -- Alex Tuch
William Carrier -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Oscar Lindberg
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Shea Theodore -- Deryk Engelland
Brad Hunt -- Colin Miller
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched:Ryan Carpenter, Jason Garrison
Injured:Tomas Nosek (upper body), Oscar Dansk (lower body), Jon Merrill (undisclosed), Luca Sbisa (hand)

Lightning projected lineup

Chris Kunitz -- Steven Stamkos -- Nikita Kucherov
Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Tyler Johnson
Alex Killorn -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Yanni Gourde
Cory Conacher -- Cedric Paquette -- Ryan Callahan
Slater Koekkoek -- Anton Stralman
Mikhail Sergachev -- Dan Girardi
Braydon Coburn -- Jake Dotchin
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Louis Domingue
Scratched:Andrej Sustr
Injured:Victor Hedman (lower body), Peter Budaj (lower body)

Status report

Coach Gerard Gallant said Eakin will play after missing a game with an undisclosed injury. Nosek was sent back to Las Vegas on Wednesday to be evaluated by team doctors. ... Girardi, who was hit in the head with a shot against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 8, was a full participant in the morning skate and will be back in the lineup after missing two games.

Stat pack

Fleury is 6-2-1 with two shutouts in his past nine starts. ...Vasilevskiy has allowed 15 goals in his past three starts.