William Karlsson’s last-minute goal lifts Golden Knights over Coyotes

By Justin Emerson

Published Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 | 3:38 p.m.

Updated Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021 | 5:52 p.m.

William Karlsson couldn’t help but laugh as he said it.

“The name of the game was patience, you could say,” the Golden Knights forward said. “I thought we had a great game and eventually it has to go in. And it did.”

Patience, as in 59 minutes without a goal. Karlsson scored with 42.7 seconds remaining in the third period on Sunday to break a scoreless tie, lifting the Golden Knights to a 1-0 victory over the host Arizona Coyotes.

Jonathan Marchessault assisted on the goal, the second time he and Karlsson connected on a crucial late goal. Marchessault also set up Karlsson’s game-tying score against the Ducks in the second game of the season. Vegas won that one in overtime.

“There’s no real secret. We’re trying to play the same way from start to finish,” Marchessault said. “We were lucky enough to get in the last minute tonight again.”

Coyotes players appeared to believe the game-winning play was an icing after Vegas’ Alex Tuch dumped the puck in from near the center-ice line. Marchessault though played on, charging the puck and collecting down low and feeding it to Karlsson for the lead in the final moments. Vegas held off the final push with Arizona’s net empty.

The line of Karlsson, Marchessault and Reilly Smith was potent even before the game-winning goal, commanding possession of the puck when they were on the ice. They were together for 12 minutes at 5-on-5 and in that time the Golden Knights had the edge in shot attempts (16-7), scoring chances (11-2), high-danger chances (6-0) and expected goals (1-0.1), according to stats site Natural Stat Trick.

“I don’t even remember playing once in the ‘D’ zone,” Marchessault said.

As a team, Vegas helped Marc-Andre Fleury to his first shutout of the season, also the team’s first. It was the 62nd shutout of Fleury’s career, and statistically his easiest. The 16 saves are the fewest he’s ever needed for a clean sheet, besting his previous low of 17 from 2010 with the Penguins.

Fleury is off to a smoking start, which includes a .951 save percentage and three goals allowed in three games. The Coyotes only hit the post once in the game, though Fleury answered self-deprecatingly when asked what he attributed to his success this season.

“Tonight, to my post,” Fleury said. “It saved my butt a few times.”

The 16 shots were also the fewest allowed by Vegas this season and tied for second-fewest in team history. In the second period, Arizona mustered just four shots on goal. It was the kind of defensive performance that makes a coach smile.

“For us, that’s how we’ve got to play and if we play like that, we’ll score three or four goals on most nights,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “We smothered them with our pressure and for me, that’s how this team’s got to play.”

The win concluded a stretch of four in a row against Arizona, with Vegas winning three of the four. It was first time in NHL regular season history two teams met four times in a row, and winning in regulation instead of overtime had two benefits: Vegas picks up a regulation win for tiebreaking purposes if it’s needed at the end of the year, and it prevents division rival Arizona from grabbing a standings point out of the night.

The Golden Knights won’t play the Coyotes again until April, a welcome break after playing four of the first six games against Arizona. Then again, considering the success, maybe Vegas wouldn’t mind a few more against Arizona.

“After the first game, we were like, ‘I can’t believe we’re going to play three games against them again,” Marchessault said. “I think were the better team overall and that’s why we got three wins out of four. It was a good week, let’s put it that way.”