Playoff intensity: Golden Knights down Coyotes, move into first place

By Justin Emerson

Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019 | 11:19 p.m.

It wasn’t a playoff game Saturday night. Not yet anyway.

The way the Golden Knights and Arizona Coyotes are trending, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if the teams met in a best-of-seven series this spring.

Rather, this was a statement game for Vegas: Despite a sluggish start to the year, and despite division foes Arizona and Edmonton starting the year so well, the Golden Knights stand alone in first place atop the Pacific Division 42 games into the season.

The Golden Knights, who usually operate under the one-game-at-a-time approach, conceded that Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena felt a little different.

“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “It was a big game tonight, and we found a way to win.”

Vegas played fast, played physical, and for one night at least, was a better team than the Coyotes.

It started in the first period when the Golden Knights killed an early four-minute penalty by allowing only one shot on goal. They drew a power play immediately after and cashed in with a goal from Mark Stone. The power play (2-for-3) and penalty kill (5-for-5) were terrific all night, as the Golden Knights never trailed.

“We didn’t take our foot off the gas the whole game,” forward Paul Stastny said. “When we play our game, we know what we’re capable of and know where we want to be.”

Stastny ended the scoring for Vegas, netting his 10th of the season 1:54 into the second period. Stone started it, netting both of his team’s goals in the first, with Chandler Stephenson scoring between the two.

On defense, the Golden Knights didn’t allow much. Arizona managed just seven high-danger scoring chances in all situations, and just one in a third period where it was chasing three goals. At 5-on-5 the Golden Knights generated 61.2% of the scoring chances and played well enough in front of Marc-Andre Fleury to not make him work too hard in making 27 saves.

“These guys have good speed, so little bumps here and there can take away their time and space and I thought we did a good job of that,” Stone said. “They weren’t able to transition the puck very well from their defense to their forwards. When they did, our defense had gaps and our forwards had reloads.”

The win was nice, as was grabbing first place. If the playoffs started today the Golden Knights would get home ice in the first round, with a guarantee of home ice in the second if they advanced.

The problem is the playoffs don’t start today. It was a good win, perhaps their best of the year, but it came after a stinker Monday against Colorado and a sloppy outing Friday in Anaheim.

The Golden Knights aren’t the consistent powerhouse they want to be. But that has to start somewhere, and Saturday was as good a place as any.

“I hope that we can bottle this game up and play like that every night,” Gallant said. “It’s tough to do but I liked our intensity from the drop of the puck. ...If you can do that every night, you’re going to win a lot of games.”

Justin Emerson can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Justin on Twitter at twitter.com/@j15emerson.