The Vegas Golden Knights have announced that Jack Eichel will be out week-to-week following successful surgery to repair a lower-body injury. The team placed Eichel on injured reserve on Sunday after he suffered the injury in Thursday night's game against the Boston Bruins.
Eichel left that game against the Bruins in the second period, but he did return and even performed well. Eichel scored a goal in the third period and recorded an assist on the game-winning goal in overtime.
Despite those encouraging signs, Eichel will miss significant time as his team battles atop the Pacific Division standings.
Eichel has 19 goals and 25 assists in 42 games this season, which had him on pace to potentially set new career highs in all three of those categories. That has now been derailed, and the Golden Knights' focus must shift to getting Eichel healthy for the home stretch and a playoff run.
Even with Eichel in the lineup, the Golden Knights have been inconsistent of late. Vegas is 5-8-0 over the last month, and it is now seven points behind the Vancouver Canucks for first place in the division.
Vegas will have to tread water without Eichel, and it would help if the team can get a little more production out of Mark Stone, who ended a seven-game goal drought with a hat trick against the Nashville Predators on Monday.
