Video Credit: NHL

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs. Coyotes- Game 40

Franchise Sports Media

 

The second of a two-game series between The Vegas Golden Knights and The Arizona Coyotes had a much different start than the first matchup.

 

Golden Knights vs Coyotes
Photo Credit: AP / David Becker

Game 1 saw the Knights explode out the gate to have one of their most dominant first periods ever, putting twenty-two shots on net, with four of them becoming goals. Sunday’s opening period saw a much lower shot total and the play on the ice seemed more evenly matched. Arizona was the first team to receive a chance at special teams, not even a minute in as Nic Hague took a high sticking penalty on Christian Fischer, but the Knights penalty kill got the job done.

Vegas received a powerplay of their own with 10:14 remaining, which saw Max Pacioretty hit the goalpost, but that was the closest they came to scoring. A few minutes later, Ryan Reeves delivered a massive blow to Jordan Gross, which knocked him out of the game; it was a violent hit but looked clean from my view. Alex Tuch hit another post in the final minutes of the period, but the score remained 0-0 as time expired.

 

The second period looked much like the first in that the score remained tied at 0, but VGK dominated the shot total and had better chances overall than the Arizona Coyotes.

 

Forty-eight seconds into the middle frame, it looked like the Knights were about to pull ahead as Alex Pietrangelo had a great tip of a shot by Brayden McNabb, but it slid through the crease and was pushed away by Larsson. Just over a minute later, Michael Bunting hit the post, and it looked like it might slide across the goal line, but Marc Andre Fleury was able to squeeze it against the post until the whistle blew. VGK controlled the pace of play but was unable to solve Adin Hill as they led the shot total of 16-5 in the second period and 25-10 overall at that point. Vegas went into the third period without a goal for just the third time this season.

 

The third period saw only one goal get scored but the physicality was at a high as Arizona went out of their way to show their frustrations against the Knights.

 

Golden Knights vs Coyotes
Photo Credit: AP / David Becker

Obviously, after the early hit by Ryan Reeves, the Arizona Coyotes took it personally and tried to land every shot they could on Vegas, with some questionable hits, to say the least. Six and a half minutes into the third, Jason Demers landed a nasty cross-check to the back of Max Pacioretty but surprisingly, no penalties were called. The frustration from both sides boiled over a minute later as William Carrier and Michael Bunting were both called for roughing, leading to two minutes of four on play with neither team scoring.

With 9:22 remaining, Tomas Nosek finally broke through as he received a great pass from Jonathan Marchessault and scored from the inner-right circle to give his team the lead. Max Pacioretty hit the post for this third time of the night, but no more goals were scored as time expired. Marc Andre Fleury recorded his fifth shutout of the year and is now tied with Philipp Grubauer for the league lead in shutouts.

 

Looking Forward: 

 

The Golden Knights will have a quick turnaround as they travel to Los Angeles tomorrow to take on the Kings. The Kings have been struggling lately but just got back into the win column on Saturday night, beating the San Jose Sharks. It will be interesting to see if the Kings lineup is the same as the last matchup. The NHL Trade Deadline is at 12 pm Pacific time this afternoon, and many experts consider the Kings to be sellers if they make any trade.

 

 

The Vegas Golden Knights will resume play Monday evening against The Los Angeles Kings at The Staples Center. The puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. and will be on AT&T Sportsnet and FOX Sports Las Vegas 98.9/1340.

 

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-D.J. Wood– Franchise Sports Media

Follow D.J. on Twitter @DJwoody97

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