Adin Hill made 20 saves as the Vegas Golden Knights prevailed in a 3-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night in Tempe.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Jonathan Marchessault, Nicholas Hague and Chandler Stephenson all scored in the first 6:17 of the game for Vegas (31-15-6). The Golden Knights have now won two games in a row.
Clayton Keller and Jason Zucker got on the board for the Coyotes (23-23-3) who are on a four-game losing streak. Karel Vejmelka had a 28-save shutout after replacing Connor Ingram who started.
Getting things started just 19 seconds in, Marchessault scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season for Vegas to grab a 1-0 lead.
Making it 2-0 58 seconds later, Hague fired the puck off, took a fortuitous bounce off of someone in front of Ingram and slowly fluttered past the confused netminder.
A not so Haguer bomb 😅 pic.twitter.com/IbFXvTni0E
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) February 9, 2024
Zucker, a Vegas native, would then plant himself in the slot to redirect a point shot by Michael Kesselring off the post and in, lessening the Coyotes defecit to 2-1 4:07 into the game.
In Barrett Hayton’s first game back from injury, his line with Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley exerted energy and urgency to fight back despite trailing.
To disrupt the Coyotes’ momentum, however, Stephenson was all alone before beating Ingram to regain a two-goal lead for Vegas, 3-1.
On the left side of Ingram, William Karlsson thought he added another for the Golden Knights, but technology said otherwise.
With the puck up mid-air, Karlsson hit it in past Ingram with his glove. After the officials huddled, they decided to use instant replay to determine if it was a legal goal or not. Moments later, it was waved off.
Even though the goal didn’t count, Ingram was swapped for Vejmelka after allowing three goals on six shots.
From then on, both teams would trade chances from the second period onwards, but Vejmelka and Hill both stood tall.
Vejmelka would make a key save in the beginning moments of the third period, and that stop led to a Coyotes response.
Off of his leg pad, the puck flung to Nick Schmaltz who miraculously chopped the puck out of the defensive zone. Ricochetting off the boards, it fell onto the tape of Keller’s stick before the ‘Yotes star capitalized on a breakaway.
Right place 🤝 right time https://t.co/EVtKZd6cx1 pic.twitter.com/ZojbjrtdXw
— Arizona Coyotes (@ArizonaCoyotes) February 9, 2024
To shut down the Coyotes who were down 3-2, the Golden Knights’ defense tightened up late to secure the victory.
Next Games
Coyotes: Away at Nashville Predators (26-23-2) on Feb. 10 at 6 p.m. MST
Golden Knights: Home vs. Minnesota Wild (22-23-5) on Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. MST
Newest Coyotes C Adam Ružička ‘excited to be here’ in Arizona
*Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, exclusive content, and access to our seasonal magazines! SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*
Alec Cipollini covers Arizona Coyotes and Cardinals news for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account @AlecCipollini
