Golden Knights struggle to keep up in Arizona, drop second straight game

By Justin Emerson

Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019 | 10:35 p.m.

GLENDALE, Ariz. — The third goal surrendered by the Golden Knights may not have been short-handed, but it was emblematic of Vegas’ biggest issue Thursday night.

Conor Garland sprang out of the box, collected the puck and scored on a breakaway in the second period, eight seconds after the penalty ended. The Arizona Coyotes nullified Vegas’ power play, and the Golden Knights struggled early at 5-on-5 in a 4-1 loss at Gila River Arena.

“We didn’t have enough in-zone time and that definitely shot us in the foot,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “They have a lot of skilled guys out there that can really fly, and we didn’t move the puck as well as we would have liked."

If you count Garland coming out of the box, the Coyotes had three short-handed breakaways on the night. They were arguably the league’s best penalty kill last season with an 85% kill rate, which was tied for best in the NHL, and 16 short-handed goals that ranked second. Vegas was scoreless on four chances with the extra man and had 13 shots on goal.

That the Knights had 13 shots on goal in eight power-play minutes is a positive. The chances were there, but the finish wasn’t. That was in part because of Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper, who has a .957 save percentage through three games. It’s also the Coyotes’ style. Their penalty kill is aggressive, challenging the attackers and frequently causing hasty passes and mistakes, not allowing the opposition to set up the looks that they want.

“They have some fast forwards and good pairings when there’s a loose puck, one guy goes,” forward Paul Stastny said. “We got a little tired, a little lackadaisical and they took advantage of that.”

The all-situations shot totals and possession numbers tell of a game that wasn’t bad for the Golden Knights. They led in shots on goal, 37-29, and scoring chances, 30-22. But the 5-on-5 game was worse.

Vegas narrowed the total possession advantage in a scoreless third period, but in the first period the Coyotes led in shot attempts 21-9 at even strength and scoring chances 12-4. The Coyotes controlled the game when both teams had the same number of skaters, and though it was 2-1, it put Vegas in a tough spot, especially once Arizona scored two minutes into the second.

“We didn’t have any intensity,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “We lost the game in the first period.”

The second period wasn’t much better, either. The Golden Knights had to switch goalies after an undisclosed injury to starter Malcolm Subban. Marc-Andre Fleury entered in relief, and both allowed two goals before their nights were done. There was no update on Subban besides being day-to-day.

The Golden Knights beat up on the Sharks twice and since leading the Bruins 2-0 on Tuesday, Vegas has been outscored 8-2. The Coyotes outplayed Vegas in almost every facet, turning a team that looked unbeatable when it left San Jose Friday to a team that looked quite beatable a week later.

It’s part of the ebbs and flows of a long season, and there is no reason to draw conclusions for the entire season. But the Golden Knights were pretty succinct in drawing a conclusion about Thursday’s outing.

“I think we didn’t do a good job tonight,” Theodore said. “At the end of the day, we just have to be better, we have to manage the puck a lot better than we did and it just wasn’t a good effort.”