The Vegas Golden Knights are getting ready to play game two of their series with the Dallas Stars. Game one saw the Knights take the lead early and beat the Stars 4-3. That was the first game back for Captian Mark Stone, who was returning from the LTIR with a lacerated spleen. Injuries have plagued Vegas all season, with players like Jack Eichel, Alex Pietrangelo, and Zach Whitecloud all seeing time on the Injured list.
Today, Vegas Coach Bruce Cassidy announced that Nicolas Hague had suffered a lower-body injury and would not participate in tonight’s game. Hague will be off the ice until the team returns to Las Vegas, where they can have him fully assessed by team doctors and determine what he is dealing with. In the VGK starting lineup, Hague is paired with Whitecloud for the fourth pair of defensemen. He left at 8:27, remaining in the third period, after he registered a hit on Dallas Evgenii Dadonov and had his shot blocked by Ryan Suter.
Alec Martinez is taking his place for Wednesday night’s game; the rest of the lines will remain as usual, per Cassidy. This isn’t the first time Hague has been injured this season. Fortunately, this isn’t Alec’s first rodeo. Alec was crucial to last year’s playoff run when the Golden Knights took home the Stanley Cup. While his usual pairing with Pietrangelo, Cassidy said they would slide him right in with Whitecloud, with whom he has experience from last year’s run. He has excellent defensive work and is good on the penalty kill, but he is also a player who can put some offensive puck work out there.
During the regular season, Vegas met with Dallas three times, winning all three match-ups, the most recent being in December, when they beat them 6-1. Vegas meets Dallas for game two on 4/24/24; the puck drops at 9:30 EST.
ITR 43: It's Winning Time – Inside The Rink
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