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The Vegas Golden Knights will be without their top goal scorer when they open a three-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night in Saint Paul, Minn.

Tomas Hertl, who has 31 goals, will miss the road trip because of an injury that he sustained Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Hertl was shoved into the boards from behind by Lightning defenseman Emil Lilleberg.

“He’ll get tests done,” Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “I think he had some done (Monday) and again some more (Tuesday) to determine exactly what we’re dealing with, but he’ll be missing this trip.”

In the meantime, Vegas (42-20-8, 92 points) will try to build upon its lead over the Los Angeles Kings and Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division. The Golden Knights have won three games in a row by a combined margin of 15-6.

Minnesota (40-26-5, 85 points) will play on short rest after losing 3-0 on the road against the Dallas Stars on Monday night. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Wild, who are trying to hang on to one of two wild-card playoff berths in the Western Conference.

Marc-Andre Fleury could get the start in net for the Wild one night after Filip Gustavsson manned the crease against the Stars. Fleury, 40, is 12-8-1 with a 2.72 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage in 22 games this season.

Fleury has faced the Golden Knights four times in his career, posting a 1-3-0 record with a 4.41 GAA and an .873 save percentage in those contests. He played for Vegas for four seasons from 2017-21.

Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin also hopes to return to the ice after sitting out Monday’s game against the Stars because of a lower-body injury. The 31-year-old Brodin missed almost a month of action earlier this season because of a lower-body injury.

Wild coach John Hynes said he wanted to be cautious to avoid another long setback.

“We’re trying to be really cognizant of a player being off for a long time with the type of injury he had,” Hynes said. “(We’re) making sure we’re putting him in a situation where he can come back and play at a high level.”

Brodin has 19 points (4 goals, 15 assists) and a plus-11 rating in 39 games this season.

The Golden Knights’ options in net include Adin Hill (26-11-5, 2.51 GAA, .907 save percentage) and Ilya Samsonov (16-9-3, 2.78 GAA, .892 save percentage). Hill is 2-4-0 with a 2.53 GAA and an .896 save percentage in seven career games against Minnesota, and Samsonov is 0-2-1 with a 4.06 GAA and an .872 save percentage in three games versus the Wild.

This is the third and final game between the teams during the regular season. Vegas has won each of the first two meetings — a 3-2 road win on Dec. 15 and a 4-1 win on home ice Jan. 12.

The Wild are 18-15-2 at home this season. The Golden Knights are 15-13-5 on the road.

–Field Level Media