Connor Ingram recorded his first shutout of the season and second in his NHL career, making 34 saves as the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 2-0 on Saturday night.
Clayton Keller broke the scoreless tie with 9:22 remaining, and Lawson Crouse added an empty-net goal with 1:17 left, marking his 10th goal of the month and the season. Crouse has found the net in five of his last six games.
Ingram’s previous NHL shutout was on February 15 against Tampa Bay.
“I think I saw everything today, which is huge in this league,” Ingram said. “If you see it most of the time, you’ll stop it. (The defense) did a good job of boxing guys out and blocking pucks I didn’t see, so huge props to them.”
Logan Thompson made 16 saves for the Golden Knights, who have been shut out thrice in six games. Last season, they were shut out only twice en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
“Their D did a good job tonight because they shut us out, but I think if we had played the right way, we could’ve exposed them, put a lot more pressure on them,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Some of the guys we rely on offense are unwilling to do that right now. As a result, the offense has dried up. Until they’re willing to get back to basics, I can’t sit here and tell you we’ll come out of it tomorrow or the next day because there’s a certain way to play.”
Arizona snapped a three-game losing streak despite several injuries impacting their lineup.
“It’s a Stanley Cup champion team on the other side,” Coyotes coach André Tourigny said. “The way we played defensively, the way we managed the puck, the way we managed our game, that’s what we’ve been begging for for a while. That’s what we’re capable of. I’m not saying we’ll play 82 (games) like that, but that mindset we had, that’s what we need to copy and paste.”
This was the Coyotes’ only away game in an eight-game stretch, nearly the opposite of the Knights’ schedule. It was the Knights’ lone home game during a nine-game span. Vegas fell to 8-2-1 at T-Mobile Arena, suffering their second home defeat in three games.
Neither team scored in the first two periods, with the Knights holding a 20-10 shot advantage.
Vegas had two prime scoring opportunities late in the second. William Karlsson stole the puck at the blue line and had a one-on-one with Ingram but missed wide. Later, on a power play, Ivan Barbashev passed to Alex Pietrangelo in front of the goal, but Ingram made a glove save.
The Coyotes also had strong chances, notably Alexander Kerfoot’s slot shot that Thompson sprawled to save.
Keller eventually put the Coyotes ahead, setting the stage for their victory.
“It was a tight-checking game,” Keller said. “Not a lot of great looks. I think we did a good job of sticking with it, and it was nice to see it go in there.”
UP NEXT:
- Coyotes: Host Tampa Bay on Tuesday night to open a five-game homestand.
- Golden Knights: At Calgary on Monday night to begin a three-game Canadian trip.
