Alex Pietrangelo scored a goal and provided two assists as the Vegas Golden Knights secured a 4-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
William Carrier, Mark Stone, and Reilly Smith also found the net for Vegas, helping the team break a two-game losing streak. Logan Thompson made 25 saves, and Jonathan Marchessault added two assists.
The Golden Knights improved their record against the Coyotes to 17-7-0, including 10-3-0 at home.
Clayton Keller scored for Arizona, extending his point streak to six games, while Karel Vejmelka stopped 35 shots.
After struggling on special teams in their previous game, Vegas tightened up, shutting down an Arizona squad that entered with the NHL’s fourth-best power play.
“The penalty kill was huge in that second period,” Pietrangelo said.
Arizona had a brief 5-on-3 power play followed by a one-man advantage for 1:56 but couldn’t score.
Vegas successfully killed all four of Arizona’s power-play opportunities.
“We made them work hard to get into the zone … expending some energy and time to get set up,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “And I thought we did a good job getting our clears on the contested pucks.”
Pietrangelo broke a scoreless tie at 12:21 of the second period with a power-play goal, assisted by Jack Eichel.
“There was a lot of chatter about the power play coming into the season,” Pietrangelo said. “I think we’ve done a real good job executing. We’ve got two outstanding units.”
Carrier extended the lead to 2-0 just 32 seconds into the third period with a shot that deflected over Vejmelka.
Stone made it 3-0 with 14:07 left, batting a rebound out of midair into the net.
Pietrangelo, who assisted on Carrier’s and Stone’s goals, now leads all Vegas skaters in career points against the Coyotes with 30 in 44 games. This was his second three-point game in seven days.
“I’m sure there’s teams I have a horrible stat against,” Pietrangelo said. “They play physical — it kind of gets me engaged. I like teams that come at you ’cause you can get them out of position, make them vulnerable in the O zone, and sometimes you take advantage of that.”
Keller spoiled Thompson’s bid for his third shutout of the season with a goal midway through the third period, but that was all the Coyotes could muster in their sixth straight road game.
“We missed Grade-A opportunities,” Coyotes coach André Tourigny said. “We had other plays where we needed to be quicker with our shot to get the goalie in motion. There’s a lot of work to do offensively.”
Smith’s goal with 1:03 remaining sealed Vegas’s 4-1 win.
Game Notes
- Phil Kessel skated in his 1,000th consecutive game, extending his NHL record. The 35-year-old Vegas forward played 208 of those with Arizona over the previous three seasons.
- The Coyotes plan a brief return home this weekend before continuing their stretch of 14 straight road games while work is completed on their new arena at Arizona State University.
- Chandler Stephenson’s assist on Stone’s goal extended his point streak to five games.
Up Next
- Coyotes: Continue their road trip on Monday in Nashville.
- Golden Knights: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
