Golden Knights’ Alex Pietrangelo sidelined at least two more games

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will not be in the lineup Friday versus the Chicago Blackhawks nor Saturday against the Nashville Predators, Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters earlier Friday.

In all, it will mark three consecutive games in which Pietrangelo will be sidelined as he did not dress in Tuesday’s 5-1 road win over the Minnesota Wild due to a lower-body injury.

On the season, Pietrangelo has made 67 appearances with the Golden Knights in which he has scored four times and added 28 assists to sit third among team defensemen with 32 points. With it, Pietrangelo has registered 16 penalty minutes and a plus-11 rating while averaging a team-leading 22:29 time on ice per game.

Earlier this season, the 35-year-old native of King City, Ont., was named to the Team Canada squad that competed at the 4 Nations Face-Off but withdrew in order to tend to an injury and prepare for the remainder of the regular season. Beyond his current absence, Pietrangelo also missed a three-game stretch through late November due to an upper-body injury.

Originally chosen fourth overall by the St. Louis Blues in the 2008 NHL Draft, Pietrangelo has totaled 1,083 career contests between the Blues and Golden Knights in which he has totaled 148 goals and 488 assists for 636 points.

In 2019, while with St. Louis, Pietrangelo put up 19 points counting three goals and 16 assists in 26 postseason appearances to captain the Blues to the franchise’s first-ever Stanley Cup championship. Four years later, then as part of the Golden Knights, Pietrangelo hoisted the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career. In all, through 139 appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Pietrangelo has notched 13 goals and 61 assists for 74 points.

For the Golden Knights, on the season the club sits 43-20-8 and atop the Pacific Division with 94 points.