Jonathan Marchessault scored 19 seconds into the game, Adin Hill made 20 saves, and the Vegas Golden Knights secured a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night.
Marchessault, Nicolas Hague, and Chandler Stephenson each scored in the first 6:17 for the Golden Knights, who have now won seven of their last nine games and earned points in eight of those.
“We understand where we are at this time of the year as a team,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s part three of the season, and the teams that expect to be playing deep into the spring, they get their game in order. I can see it with our guys. We know we have to play winning hockey.”
Jason Zucker and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, who had been playing for the first time since January 27. They have now lost four consecutive games.
Hill is 4-0 since returning from a lower-body injury suffered on Dec. 17, conceding only seven goals in that span. He has won seven of his last eight starts, with the lone loss coming in overtime. Hill played for the Coyotes from 2018 to 21, recording 19 wins in 49 games.
“The guys have a certain level of comfort” with Hill, Cassidy said. “He’s calm. He’s relaxed. So that allows everyone else to be calm and relaxed. The coach. The players. Et cetera. We just feel that with Adin, especially after the run through the playoffs last year. Everyone can relax and play, knowing that he has their back.”
Connor Ingram allowed all three Vegas goals and was replaced by Karel Vejmelka, who stopped 28 shots.
Keller scored on a breakaway at 3:40 of the third period, beating Hill on the blocker side to bring the Coyotes within one goal at 3-2. Despite pulling Vejmelka for an extra attacker with 1:34 remaining, Arizona didn’t generate another significant chance.
“We didn’t panic,” Hague said. “We weren’t worried. We just want to start to build some consistency into our game.”
Both teams scored on their first shots, but the Coyotes were already down 2-0 by the time they got a shot off. Marchessault opened the scoring from the right circle after Nicolas Roy won a puck battle along the boards and fed Ivan Barbashev, who delivered a cross-ice pass to Marchessault.
Hague made it 2-0 just 1:17 into the game when his wrist shot from between the circles deflected off a Coyotes defender and floated over Ingram’s glove.
The Golden Knights, coming off a 3-1 win over Edmonton that ended the Oilers’ 16-game winning streak, kept their momentum going.
“We felt great, especially after a high-energy game against Edmonton,” Barbashev said. “We scored three goals really quick, and that probably won us the game. It’s nice to score on the first shift. It gets the team going.”
Zucker responded for the Coyotes on their first shot at 4:07 of the first period, tipping in Juuso Valimaki’s shot from the blue line. Stephenson then made it 3-1 at 6:17, scoring from the left circle after a backhanded pass from Mark Stone at the blue line.
William Karlsson appeared to extend Vegas’ lead to 4-1 at 12:20 of the first period, but the goal was overturned upon review as it was determined the puck was batted in with a glove. Vejmelka replaced Ingram during the review.
“We played a good game,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “The first five minutes… they played two days ago, and you could see they had an edge. We were more of a team when we got our legs under ourselves.”
Ingram, who shut out Vegas in their only previous meeting this season, made three saves before being replaced.
The long break allowed the Coyotes to regain some health. Forward Barrett Hayton returned after missing 32 games with a hand injury, and defenseman Matt Dumba was back after missing the last three.
UP NEXT
- Golden Knights: Host Minnesota on Monday.
- Coyotes: Visit Nashville on Saturday.
