Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Blog: Golden Knights take down Coyotes after wild third period

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Steve Marcus

Vegas Golden Knights left wing William Carrier (28) and right wing Ryan Reaves (75) celebrate after the Golden Knights beat the Arizona Coyotes, 7-4, at T-Mobile Arena Friday, April 9, 2021.

Updated Friday, April 9, 2021 | 9:34 p.m.

At the 4:10 mark of the second period, the Golden Knights took a 5-0 lead. It felt like it was over. The Coyotes had other ideas, and made Vegas sweat.

The Golden Knights and Coyotes combined to score five goals in the third period, and though the five-goal lead dwindled to two, the Coyotes never got closer than that and the Golden Knights beat Arizona 7-4 at T-Mobile Arena.

Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier, Keegan Kolesar and Reilly Smith all scored in the first half of the first period for the Golden knights, helping them surge to a 4-0 lead. Chandler Stephenson added the fifth goal early in the second, and it looked like cruise control would take Vegas home with an easy win.

Instead, Nick Schmaltz netted a power-play goal for the Coyotes in the final minute of the second, setting up some drama in third.

Arizona's Dryden Hunt and Clayton Keller scored a minute apart early in the third to cut the lead to 5-3, but Smith answered with his second of the game. Fifteen seconds after Smith's goal, and while the goal was being announced in the arena, Michael Bunting scored again to bring the game to 6-4.

The third period surge by the Coyotes came even after they pulled starting goalie Adin Hill in favor of rookie Ivan Prosvetov, who was making his second NHL appearance.

Max Pacioretty scored an empty-net goal with 54 seconds remaining to end the madness.

Vegas finished with a 37-26 edge in shots on goal.

Check back to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage and read below for live updates from the game.

Golden Knights hold steady in second, lead Coyotes big

The Golden Knights put the game out of hand in the first period. The goal in the second period was just for good measure.

Chandler Stephenson scored the lone goal of the second period for the Golden Knights, upping the Vegas lead to five before Arizona got one back. After two, Vegas led the Coyotes 5-1 at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

The game slowed down drastically after Vegas scored four times in the first 8:44 of the first period, but not slow enough for Stephenson. He collected a head pass from Mark Stone along the right-wing boards and zoomed around the Arizona defense to go in alone on goalie Adin Hill and went five-hole for his eighth goal of the season.

The Coyotes pushed back in the period, and straightened out the number on the scoreboard in the final minute. They picked up their second power play of the game after a Nicolas Roy hooking penalty, and Nick Schmaltz cashed in with a power-play goal, his fourth goal in ive games against Vegas this season.

With about six minutes left in the period, William Carrier leveled Arizona's Christian Fischer into the glass separating the benches. Fischer needed help getting off the ice and into the tunnel, which could change the tone for the third period. In a 5-0 game, keep an eye on if this game gets physical, or if anything spills into the teams' next meeting on Sunday.

Arizona led in shots on goal 11-10 in the second, and Vegas led 32-19 through two.

Golden Knights dominate first period vs. Coyotes

The Golden Knights were looking for a hot start to Friday's game. They got that in more with a first-period onslaught.

Vegas scored four times times in the first nine minutes of the game, dominating play in every facet and taking a 4-0 lead over the Arizona Coyotes into the first intermission at T-Mobile Arena.

Jonathan Marchessault was first, snapping the team's 0-for-18 skid on the power play with a pretty wrister set up by an even prettier seam pass from Max Pacioretty. That came at the 3:03 mark of the first and set the table for a beatdown of a period.

Soon after William Carrier crashed to the net and no Coyotes were there to push him away form the crease. He hacked and slashed at the puck and on the third attempt it got by Adin Hill to make it 2-0.

The Coyotes took a timeout at the 4:41 mark of the game, typically an indicator that things are getting out of hand, and sure enough, the Golden Knights scored about two minutes later.

The third goal was a strong individual effort from Keegan Kolesar. He chased an Arizona defenseman behind the net, stole the puck from behind, turned and fired on net and made it 3-0 at the 6:59 mark. It also gave Vegas a 12-1 advantage in shots on goal.

The Coyotes finally had an opportunity near the midpoint of the period when Carrier went to the box for slashing, but even a penalty wasn't going to slow Vegas down. Reilly Smith and William Karlsson went the other way on a 2-on-0, and Smith connected with his second short-handed goal of the season.

When it was all said and done in the first, the Golden Knights led in shots 22-8.

Pre-game

The last time the Golden Knights and Coyotes met nearly three months ago, Vegas won three of four games. But the teams are in different situations as they prepare to meet tonight.

The Golden Knights, losers of four of their last five, welcome a Coyotes team that has won six of eight and has rocketed into the fourth playoff spot in the West Division. Arizona is playing with a ton of confidence, while the Golden Knights are trying to rediscover their game. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena.

"They're winning a lot of games, and we've got to come ready to play," Vegas forward Alex Tuch said. "We know that they're a tenacious team, and we're going to have to match that intensity for sure."

Tuch also mentioned the need for a strong start, echoing comments from coach Pete DeBoer as morning skate wrapped up. In their last game, Wednesday in St. Louis, the Golden Knights allowed a goal in the first minute and two in the first period, putting them in a hole they couldn't dig out of.

Vegas is 19-2-2 this season when scoring the first goal but just 6-9 when allowing the first goal. The Golden Knights have also won 15 of the 17 games in which it has led after the first period period, so DeBoer stressed the importance of not playing from behind, especially against a typically strong defensive team like the Coyotes.

"I liked big parts of both games in St. Louis, but I didn't like the first 10 minutes of either game," DeBoer said. "We've traditionally been a pretty fast-starting team."

Vegas is nearing a fully healthy roster, as Zach Whitecloud skated this morning for the first time since leaving the March 31 game with the Kings. He is unavailable tonight but could return Sunday. Defenseman Alec Martinez, who was a late scratch from Wednesday's game, did not skate, though DeBoer said that is not indicative of his status and he is a game-time decision.

Robin Lehner is expected to get the nod in net, and he has been on a heater since returning from a concussion on March 19. In five games, he has allowed just seven goals and has raised his season save percentage from .890 to .919.

TV: AT&T SportsNet (DirecTV 684, Cox 1313, CenturyLink 1760)

Radio: Fox Sports 1340 AM and 98.9 FM

Betting line: Golden Knights minus-230, Coyotes plus-200; over/under: 5.5 (minus-105, minus-115)

Golden Knights (25-11-2, 52 points; 2nd place, West Division)

Coach: Pete DeBoer (second season)

Points leader: Mark Stone (29)

Goals leader: Max Pacioretty (18)

Assists leader: Mark Stone (41)

Expected goalie: Robin Lehner (2.17 GAA, .919 save percentage)

Coyotes (19-16-5, 43 points; 4th place, West Division)

Coach: Rick Tocchet (fourth season)

Points leader: Conor Garland (30)

Goals leader: Phil Kessel (15)

Assists leader: Conor Garland (20)

Expected goalie: Adin Hill (2.79 GAA, .909 save percentage)

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Max Pacioretty—Chandler Stephenson—Mark Stone

Jonathan Marchessault—William Karlsson—Reilly Smith

Keegan Kolesar—Cody Glass—Alex Tuch

William Carrier—Tomas Nosek—Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Brayden McNabb—Alex Pietrangelo

Nick Holden—Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague—Dylan Coghlan

Goalies

Robin Lehner, Marc-Andre Fleury

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