Unbeaten Vikings Get Four Starters Back for the Colts, While the Golden Knights Look to Answer in St. Louis

LAS VEGAS

The bye week did its job in Minnesota. The Vikings come out of their break at 5-0 with four injured offensive starters expected back on the practice field Wednesday, just in time for Sunday's home game against the Indianapolis Colts at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis — while in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights are digesting a rare home blowout and packing for St. Louis. For fans of both teams, this is a week that starts with good news in Minneapolis and a get-right game in Missouri.

Head coach Kevin O'Connell told reporters on Tuesday, October 20, that wide receiver Jordan Addison, running back Jordan Mason, left tackle Christian Darrisaw and tight end T.J. Hockenson were all expected to return to practice in some capacity on Wednesday, according to Heavy's reporting of O'Connell's comments, which Sports Illustrated also covered. Four starters, one offense, all trending the same direction at the same time — the kind of injury report an undefeated team almost never gets to write in late October.

The biggest single return may be in the backfield. The Associated Press reported that the Vikings designated Mason for return from injured reserve on Monday, opening his practice window after a four-game absence for a broken thumb suffered in the season opener on September 13 against Green Bay. NFL rules give Minnesota three weeks to activate him or lose him for the season, but the expectation is much faster than that: ESPN's Kevin Seifert reported there is strong optimism Mason will be ready for Sunday's game against the Colts.

His return changes the math for Aaron Jones. The AP reported that Jones, in his 10th season, has carried the load almost alone during Mason's absence — 410 rushing yards and two touchdowns, plus 12 catches for 72 yards, with a workload of 19.4 rushing attempts per game that would be a career high over a full season. Mason led the Vikings with 758 rushing yards and six touchdowns last season, his first in Minnesota after three years in San Francisco. A two-back rotation does not just help the run game; it protects the 5-0 start's most overworked asset.

The other three returns are just as specific. Heavy reported that Addison, the No. 2 receiver, has been recovering from a hamstring injury that kept him out of the Week 5 win over New Orleans — Sports Illustrated reported he tested the injury before that game but could not get to full readiness. Darrisaw is coming back from a concussion sustained against Miami in Week 4, a game he first left with a neck injury before exiting again with concussion symptoms; he still needs medical clearance for game action. Hockenson, Minnesota's top tight end, suffered his concussion against New Orleans in Week 5, just before the bye.

None of it guarantees a smooth Sunday. Athlon Sports, assessing the Vikings' season at the bye, argued the offensive line remains the team's biggest issue: guard Donovan Jackson is done for the year with a torn meniscus, Joe Huber has stepped in at left guard, and the line has yet to fully assert itself even as the wins stacked up. Athlon also noted quarterback Kyler Murray suffered a concussion in the opener and star receiver Justin Jefferson missed time with a sprained ankle in Week 3 — the 5-0 record was built through attrition, not around it. Indianapolis, 2-4, arrives with its own problem: Heavy reported that Colts cornerback Sauce Gardner is likely to miss Sunday's game with a mild calf strain, citing NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, who described Gardner as week-to-week but not facing a long-term absence.

Down in Las Vegas, the mood is different. The Golden Knights closed their homestand Tuesday night with a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena, only their third defeat of the season against eight wins. NHL.com's recap described a game that was tied 2-2 after a wild first period — Brandon Hagel opened the scoring on the power play, Ivan Barbashev answered with his first goal of the season off a Mitch Marner takeaway, John Carlson restored Tampa Bay's lead 48 seconds later, and Mark Stone tied it again with his second shorthanded goal of the season, intercepting an Andrei Vasilevskiy clearing attempt and feeding off Braeden Bowman's play to score. Then the second period buried Vegas: Anthony Cirelli scored twice in a span of 3:25, Victor Hedman made it 5-2, and Nikita Kucherov's third-period breakaway finished it.

Kucherov's night carried history. His goal and two assists gave him 1,137 career points with Tampa Bay, tying Steven Stamkos for the franchise record — in 888 games, against Stamkos's 1,082, according to NHL.com. "His work ethic, his dedication to the game, and his dedication to the bench has always been there," Hedman told NHL.com. Coach Jon Cooper added: "That's what he does. He's a special talent. Guys like him don't come around." Vasilevskiy made 32 saves for Tampa Bay, while Carter Hart stopped 15 for Vegas in front of 17,017 fans. Cirelli, notably, did not play the third period, and Cooper offered no update afterward.

Vegas's own postmortem was honest. "We had our chances to get ourselves back in the game once it got to five," Stone said in comments carried by Yahoo Sports' recap. "They get that early one in the third, and it's pretty tough to come back from that. We'll stick with it and learn from it. We gotta be better in these games." Head coach Ryan Craig said the Knights were "a little bit out of our rhythm, a little bit out of our execution." The strangest number of the night backed him up: Vegas outshot Tampa Bay 34-21 and still lost by four — a finishing and breakdown problem, not an effort problem.

The fix-it window is short. The Golden Knights open a two-game road trip Thursday at the St. Louis Blues, a 5 p.m. PT start at Enterprise Center, before visiting Columbus on Saturday, according to the team's official site. So the week shapes up cleanly for both teams: Thursday night in St. Louis is the Knights' answer game, and Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium is where the Vikings find out whether a healthier offense makes an undefeated team something more dangerous — a complete one.

Read the full Lightning-Knights recap, revisit Minnesota's Week 4 win over Miami, and follow every score on the sports front.