The Vegas Golden Knights players who didn’t make the trip to Italy will be back at practice Tuesday at City National Arena. Their teammates will slowly trickle in over the coming days.

Some might be back sooner than expected with the knockout round of the men’s hockey tournament beginning Tuesday with the qualification round in Milan.

Switzerland, Czechia and Sweden will try to keep their gold medal hopes alive when play continues Tuesday morning.

Knights goaltender Akira Schmid is in line for one more start for the Swiss, and it’s likely to come Tuesday against Italy at RHO Arena.

Switzerland (-2,632) is a heavy favorite. The host Italians had a minus-15 goal differential while going 0-3 in the preliminary round.

Schmid allowed five goals in a 5-1 loss to Canada on Friday, but he played well enough to give his teammates a chance.

The Swiss would prefer to rest 38-year-old Leonardo Genoni against Italy and have him ready for the quarterfinals against Finland should they advance.

After a disappointing run in the group stage, Czechia opens knockout play against Denmark.

The Czechs’ 1-1-1 run in the group stage was a surprising one. Perhaps something more shocking is Knights center Tomas Hertl doesn’t have a point despite playing on the top line with David Pastrnak and Martin Necas.

Necas leads Czechia with five points, while Pastrnak has three.

Hertl was skating on the third line at practice Monday with Ondrej Palat and Ondrej Kase.

Czechia (-391) is a significant favorite over Denmark, which went 1-2-0 but is coming off a 4-2 win over Latvia on Sunday. The winner, however, gets No. 1 seed Canada in the quarterfinals.

Sweden will cap off the qualification round against Latvia, with the winner facing Team USA, the No. 2 seed, in the quarterfinals.

Much like Hertl, it’s been a quiet tournament for Knights defenseman Rasmus Andersson. He doesn’t have a point and is a minus-2 through two games.

Based on reported line rushes at practice Monday, it looks like Andersson will not play Tuesday. Hampus Lindholm skated as the seventh defenseman.

Sweden is 2-1-0, but that 4-1 loss to Finland on Friday is why the Swedes don’t have the first-round bye that the Finns have.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.