Golden Knights’ William Karlsson, Cody Glass still sidelined

SUNRISE, Fla. — Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer hoped injured forwards William Karlsson and Cody Glass would join the team on its four-game trip. That won’t be the case.

Karlsson and Glass weren’t with the Knights for their Wednesday practice at BB&T Center and won’t play Thursday against the Florida Panthers.

DeBoer still described both as “close” to playing again. Karlsson, who has missed the past six games with an upper-body injury, is closer than Glass, according to DeBoer. Glass has missed the past 10 games with a lower-body injury.

“Originally I thought there might be a chance (they’d return) at the end of this trip, but it’ll be early when we get back,” DeBoer said.

Karlsson never had missed a Knights’ game until this injury. He still ranks fifth on the team with 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists). Glass has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his rookie season. Both are missed on the power play, as the Knights are 0-for-7 in their past two games.

“We obviously worked on the power play today,” DeBoer said after practice. “That’s something we want to try and tighten up and get a little sharper with.”

Shootout fun

The Knights focused on their breakouts and defensive zone coverage along with the power play Wednesday and finished by splitting into two teams for a shootout. The Knights have played one shootout under DeBoer and lost to the Montreal Canadiens.

The players appeared to enjoy the competition, especially when right wing Ryan Reaves and defenseman Deryk Engelland — who have a combined 16 points — scored on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Speedy center Chandler Stephenson was also a standout and beat Fleury and backup Malcolm Subban.

“For me, I’m getting to know the group,” DeBoer said. “Some guys you wouldn’t expect to be good at shootouts are good shootout guys, and some aren’t. Every time we can do a drill out here in practice like that I get information from the group that I can use.”

Puck magnets

Center Tomas Nosek, who took a puck to the face Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, wore a clear faceshield Wednesday. Center Paul Stastny, who also briefly exited the game for the same reason, went without one.

Stastny was just happy this puck hit him lower in his face after having one knock two of his teeth out Jan. 18 against the Canadiens.

“Better the chin than in the mouth,” Stastny said. “It doesn’t hurt as bad there, that’s for sure.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.