When will Mark Stone return from lower body injury to Golden Knights?

Thursday might present a momentous night for the Vegas Golden Knights.

With a 3-2 series lead, if they manage to defeat the Anaheim Ducks on the road in Game 6, the still-young expansion Golden Knights will have reached their first Western Conference Finals since their Stanley Cup championship season in 2023. Reaching a conference finals and the final four of your sport should always be considered a genuine accomplishment, even if a team doesn't wind up winning it all.

Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, they will have to try to advance to a matchup against the waiting juggernaut, the Colorado Avalanche, without one of their best injured players, veterans, and team leaders.

Mark Stone, a member of that 2023 Stanley Cup team, a perennial 60-to-70-point two-way player, and Vegas captain, will sit out Thursday evening's Game 6. He continues to recover from an undisclosed lower-body injury and hasn't played in a game since Friday, May 8, a.k.a. the Golden Knights' Game 3 road win in this second-round series.

At the time of this writing, it is unclear when Stone will return to the Golden Knights' lineup. If the Golden Knights can close out the Ducks, the next time we presumably would see him in this year's Western Conference Finals.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Mark Stone injury: Updates on when Golden Knights star might return