LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights are going to be headed into their biggest test of the young season shorthanded.

On Monday, the Golden Knights close out their three-game homestand when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes at T-Mobile Arena.

The Golden Knights have enjoyed a successful stint in the Fortress so far, halting a late comeback bid against the Boston Bruins for a 6-5 victory on Oct. 16 before soundly dominating the Calgary Flames 6-1 on Oct. 18. However, the latter performance came with a heavy cost, as captain Mark Stone exited the Flames game early with an upper-body injury. Stone did not participate in morning skate, so he will not be in the lineup against the Hurricanes tonight.

With that in mind, here are a few things to keep track of in preparation for the battle ahead.

With Stone out of the lineup, the Golden Knights are heading into the game with some adjustments.

Brandon Saad will take Stone’s spot on the top line with Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel, while Cole Reinhardt is set to return to the lineup on the fourth line after being scratched against the Flames. On the top power play unit, Mitch Marner will take Stone’s usual spot behind the net, while Shea Theodore slides onto the unit at the point. It will likely remain this way for some time, as head coach Bruce Cassidy ruled Stone as week-to-week and will not travel with the team for the upcoming road trip.

“He’ll be week-to-week, so he won’t travel this week. We’ll see where he’s at after that. Unfortunate loss,” said Cassidy.

“It sucks. It really does for him. I feel for him. He’s always bounced back well, that’s the good news, when we do get him back. Whether that’s the short, medium or long term, we don’t know yet.”

Keep the momentum going 

Losing Stone is a definite drawback, but the Golden Knights have plenty of firepower at their disposal.

Recently named Second Star of the Week by the NHL, Eichel is one of four players in NHL history to score five goals and ten assists or more in their team’s first six games (Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Mike Bossy). Marner exploded against Calgary for his first two goals of the season, and Pavel Dorofeyev still holds the team lead with six goals. Tomas Hertl and Ivan Barbashev are also currently on point-per-game paces early in the season, so the Golden Knights certainly have the weapons to compensate for Stone’s absence.

Even in the wake of Stone’s injury, it is telling that Cassidy did not have any intention of breaking up the line of Dorofeyev, Hertl, and Marner.

“He’s going to be a good player for us, no matter who he plays with,” Cassidy said when asked about Hertl.

“Right now, Marner and Dorofeyev, that’s been a nice line for us. They keep building chemistry. They’re real dangerous. And Jack is our one-two punch.”

The Golden Knights may have their injury issues early in the season, but the Hurricanes arrive in Vegas not exactly boasting the cleanest bill of health themselves.

Injuries on the blue line have tested the Hurricanes’ depth on defense. Jaccob Slavin has not played since Oct. 14, while power play quarterback Shayne Gostisbehere was injured in their previous game against the Los Angeles Kings. The Golden Knights could play host to the debut of Charles-Alexis Legault, and the offense of the home team will probably aim to give the rookie defenseman a tough assignment to start his NHL career.

Nevertheless, Cassidy understands how difficult the Hurricanes will be matchup-wise.

“Typically, they’ve been a high-volume shooting team and that’s still the case, but they’re getting a lot of looks from the slot,” Cassidy said.

“It tells me they’re recovering a lot of pucks after the shots, breaking you down and then getting it inside. So, for us, it’s puck recoveries. We got to be good in our d-zone recovering pucks so they don’t make it a habit all night of getting the plays they want.”