Knights C Stone ‘ready to go’ for Game 1 in Dallas
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
DALLAS — Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said Monday that he will play in Game 1 of his team’s Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center.
Stone had been out of the Golden Knights lineup since Feb. 20 when he was diagnosed with a lacerated spleen. He was moved to long-term injured reserve where he remained until Saturday when he was cleared by the team to practice days before the Golden Knights’ bid to win a consecutive Stanley Cup.
“The first couple weeks were real tough,” Stone said of his injury and the recovery process. “You can’t do anything physical. You’re kind of just sitting around waiting for it to heal. I think it’s even harder because you start to feel better relatively quickly but you look at the scans, and you’re nowhere close to healthy.”
Getting Stone back following a lengthy injury layoff is something the Golden Knights experienced last season.
Stone, who already had one back surgery, needed a second procedure within a 13-month window that led to him being out of the lineup in mid-January. He returned prior to the Golden Knights’ first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets.
Stone described the differences between what he went through last season compared to this season. He said recovering from a back surgery came with a distinct timeline whereas the varying timeline he was given for the spleen injury admittedly made him wonder if he’d even be ready for the start of an opening round series.
“I had some people telling me it was eight weeks. I had some people telling me it was six months,” Stone said. “It was just a wait-and-see, see how the scans go. Obviously, fortunate to be able to get those scans as frequently as I can and I think last week, the last scan I did, I felt like I was moving in the right direction and getting close to playing. The last scan kind of confirmed it, and now I’m ready to go.”
A run of persistent back problems that started in the 2021-22 season along with his multiple surgeries and the lacerated spleen has led to Stone playing in 55 percent — or 136 of the Golden Knights’ 246 regular-season games over the past three seasons.
Stone was also having some of the best performances of his career prior to being injured those seasons. He was averaging more than 0.80 points per game in the first two seasons while his 53 points in 56 games this season saw him average 0.95 points in what would have seen him finish with a career-high 78 points.
“I am not worried about individual stats at all,” Stone said. “I play for this time of year. I am excited for this time of year. I’m excited with our team. We’ve added some good pieces to help us get there. Now, we’re at full health and we’re excited with what we have.”
Stone’s injury played a role in the Golden Knights being one of the most active teams at the NHL trade deadline. Moving Stone and his $9.5 million cap hit to LTIR made it possible for the club to acquire a top-nine forward in Anthony Mantha, a top-pairing defenseman in Noah Hanifin and the shock trade to get a top-six forward in Tomas Hertl.
Stone and Hertl, who’ve never played a game together, are slated to play together on a line centered by Chandler Stephenson.
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said the extensive time Stephenson and Stone have spent together means there’s a proven cohesion. He said the real question lies with how Hertl will fit into the group. Hertl, who has played only six games with the Golden Knights, has spent time playing alongside Stephenson since recovering from knee surgery.
Cassidy said Stone, who also plays on the penalty kill and power play, won’t enter Game 1 on a minutes restriction. But the plan is for Cassidy and his staff to monitor Stone’s conditioning levels.
Last year, Stone logged more than 21 minutes of ice time in his first game back against the Jets. He would ultimately average a little less than 19 minutes per game while scoring 11 goals and 23 points in 22 games.
“His game will tell us, his shift length, himself — he could control some of that,” Cassidy said. “There is no restrictions going in. Could we put some on mid-game? That’s something we’ll decide as we go.”
Spire Motorsports’ Michael McDowell captured pole position for the seventh time in his career during Saturday’s qualifying session for the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It’s the first pole for Spire, which has shown stark improvement with an infusion of cash brought by new majority owner Dan Towriss, who also controls Andretti Global in IndyCar and the Cadillac F1 team set to debut in 2026.
McDowell’s previous six poles all came during the 2024 season, his 17th in the Cup Series.
Christopher Bell qualified in 13th position but will start from the back of the field as he searches for a fourth consecutive win. NASCAR penalized the Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sunday for making changes to his Toyota.
He could become the first driver since Jimmie Johnson in 2007 to win four consecutive Cup Series races — an accomplishment that only eight drivers have achieved in the modern era of NASCAR that began in 1972.
Lackluster qualifying hasn’t been a deterrent for Bell thus far, as he started 19th before winning at Circuit of the Americas and 32nd before winning at Atlanta.
Joey Logano will start Sunday’s race alongside McDowell on the front of the grid, qualifying in the top two at Las Vegas for the third time in five races. Austin Cindric will start third, while Las Vegas native Kyle Busch starts in fourth.
Bell has received a congratulatory text message from Johnson after each win in this three-race streak, and he is hoping the seven-time NASCAR champion hits that send button again Sunday.
“It is still the coolest thing in the world to me that I have Jimmie Johnson in my phone,” Bell said. “He has talked to me, he has sent me a text message after every win so far. I’m still shocked every time I see his name pop up. I respect the heck out of him. It’s an honor to know that he thinks of me after the race to send a text message. That is so cool.”
Bell’s three straight wins is the Cup Series’ longest winning streak since Kyle Larson won three in a row twice in 2021, and Bell is the first to do it in NASCAR’s Next Gen car, which was introduced in 2022.
The three wins this year tie his season-high set in 2022 and matched in 2024, and setting a new mark isn’t out of the question at Las Vegas, where he has five career top-10 finishes in 10 starts and three poles. Bell, in his No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, was the runner-up in Vegas’ last two fall races.
He is not considering a fourth consecutive victory a lock, even as he has dominated the first month of the season.
“One thing is for sure: Nothing that has happened the last three weeks means anything for this week,” Bell said. “Everything is still ahead of me and nothing is set, and we have to go out there and perform. This has been a strong track for us in the past, but I’m just trying very hard to not get ahead of myself and understand it is a new week. It’s a different race, and everyone is going to be bringing their best stuff to try to beat me.”
Perhaps the greatest threat to end Bell’s hot streak is Larson, who has won at the “Diamond in the Desert” three times since joining Hendrick Motorsports. Larson’s first win with Hendrick came at Las Vegas in March 2021, and he has claimed two of the previous three races held at the track, winning the South Point 400 in October 2023 and the Pennzoil 400 in March 2024.
“I think since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021, it’s probably been our best racetrack,” Larson said. “Getting a few wins, I think two other second-place finishes in that time has also been really good. The track is great, but getting to come to the city and have fun on the Strip and all the stuff that it has to offer, it probably makes it one of my three favorite races to get to.”
Logano is the most recent winner at Las Vegas, as his victory at the South Point 400 in October propelled him to his third NASCAR title.
The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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