Nuts & Bolts: The first homestand of the season ends against Vegas

Everything you need to know ahead of Thursday's game between Tampa Bay and the Vegas Golden Knights.

When: Thursday, October 17th – 7pm ET
Where: AMALIE Arena – Tampa, FL
TV coverage: Bally Sports (check local offers)
Radio reporting: 102.5MHz-FM, Lightning Radio 24/7

Lines from Tuesday's game (subject to change)
Forward
Jake Guentzel – Brayden Point – Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel – Anthony Cirelli – Nick Paul
Mikey Eyssimont – Conor Geekie – Conor Sheary
Zemgus Girgensons – Luke Glendening – Mitchell Chaffee

defender
Victor Hedman – JJ Moser
Ryan McDonagh – Erik Cernak
Darren Raddysh – Nick Perbix

goalkeeper
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Jonas Johansson

matchup on Thursday
The Vegas Golden Knights will visit the Lightning at AMALIE Arena on Thursday for the first edition of a two-game series between the clubs this season…Tampa Bay defeated the Golden Knights last year and won a game by 5 on Dec. 21 :4 won the March 19 rematch 5-3 … Forward Nikita Kucherov went 2-5-7, leading Tampa Bay last year against Vegas. Brayden Point went 4-1-5 in the series, while Nick Paul (1-2-3) and Victor Hedman (0-3-3) each scored 3 points against Vegas on Dec. 21…Kucherov leads the franchise in scoring 3-16-19 in 10 games against the Golden Knights in his career. Point has nine goals in 10 games against Vegas, while Hedman has a stat line of 1-10-11 in 10 games… The Lightning are 5-4-3 all-time against the Golden Knights since they previously joined the NHL 2017-18 season. Vegas has outscored the Lightning 40-39 in 12 career games…Andrei Vasilevskiy has started all 12 of the franchise's games against Vegas. The goaltender has 332 saves on 371 shots, for a career save percentage of .895 against Vegas.

The way ahead
Saturday, October 19th at the Ottawa Senators
Monday, October 21st at the Toronto Maple Leafs
Tuesday, October 22nd at the New Jersey Devils