The Chicago Blackhawks continue a brief road trip out west Tuesday night as they head to Las Vegas. Only instead of unwinding from hockey activities and shooting craps at the casino, they will play the Golden Knights for the first time ever. The Blackhawks are one of the oldest franchises in the NHL and the Golden Knights have played seven regular season games in their existence so far, so history will be made at T-Mobile Arena when the two meet for the first time.

The Golden Knights will be the 38th different opponent the Blackhawks have faced since their inception in 1926.

New places but familiar faces

While Vegas' team is brand new, there are plenty of veteran players on the roster that the Blackhawks have faced before. Their current leading scorer is veteran James Neal, who has played in nine NHL seasons, which include stints with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville Predators and Dallas Stars. Neal (30) has played in 27 games in his career against the Blackhawks and has scored 14 goals and six assists in those games.

Other notable veterans include defenseman Cody Eakin, winger David Perron, defenseman Deryk Engelland, and center Jon Marchessault, who quietly scored 30 goals last year with the Florida Panthers. Probably the most recognizable name on the Golden Knights roster is goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, the three-time Stanley Cup winner.

Fleury, however, will not be active for Tuesday's game due to injury.

There are no former Blackhawks players of the Jonathan Toews era on the Vegas roster currently. They did briefly have Marcus Kruger, but he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on July 4th.

Vegas' early success

This will not be an easy game for the Blackhawks as the Golden Knights have started their season very well.

They are 6-1-0 and are one point behind the division leading Los Angeles Kings. Both the Kings and Golden Knights are tied with 17 goals against, which is the fewest in the Western Conference. Chicago and Vegas currently have the same number of points (12) and are both a point out of first place. While the team in Vegas is having early success, they have suffered some recent injury problems, which could hurt them in the future.

The Blackhawks will not face either of the Golden Knights' starting goaltenders as both Fleury and Malcolm Subban (P.K. Subban's brother) are injured. The Golden Knights have called up Maxime Legace from their AHL farm team, which is ironically the Chicago Wolves. Regardless of who is playing, it will be a historical night for both teams.
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