FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Coyotes - Game 5

Looking to prolong their four game winning streak, the Vegas Golden Knights went into Gila River Arena Friday night to take on the Arizona Coyotes in their first away game of the season.  Knights fans broke out in a Go Knights Go chant early on but unfortunately they did not have much to cheer for in the first period.

VGK missed two great opportunities to take the lead early on, with Max Pachioretty missing a gaping net, followed by William Karlsson failing to convert on a breakaway shot early shortly after. The Arizona Coyotes seemed to settle in after that, starting with drawing a penalty by Nick Roy just a few minutes into the game. Christian Dvorak quickly scored on the ensuing Arizona power play off a rebound and gave the Coyotes the lead early on.

Vegas was rewarded with a powerplay of their own with 9:23 remaining in the period, but unfortunately, they looked disjointed and could not generate any clean passes to set up a quality scoring opportunity. VGK proceeded to take two more penalties in the last six and a half minutes but were able to kill them due to some solid defensive plays and some timely saves by Robin Lehner. It is very hard to build momentum and equalize the score when playing shorthanded for six out of 20 minutes, so it’s no surprise they went into the first intermission trailing.

Shea Theodore tied the game up early in the second period after stealing the puck and scoring his third goal in two games giving Knights fans some hope.

Lehner followed that up by making a great save on a Clayton Keller breakaway just a little over a minute later to keep the game tied at 1-1. However, the Arizona Coyotes took the lead again at the 12:01 mark after a bad change by the Vegas Golden Knights lead to a goal by Derrick Brassard, his first of the season. The Knights continued to fight back with a great chance by Mark Stone but the puck bounced off of Pachioretty as he was driving the net.

Just under a minute later, the Coyotes scored yet again with a goal by Nick Schmaltz to widen their lead to 3-1. Schmaltz showed great patience on the play and got Lehner to bite before netting a goal in his third straight game. The rest of the period saw VGK come close on a few chances, but they were unable to put it in the back of the net and went into the second intermission down 3-1.

The third period opened with the Arizona Coyotes scoring yet another goal just 1:25 into the final frame by Conor Garland off of a great pass by Drake Caggiula for his second goal of the season.

Once the Yotes took a 4-1 lead, it made the missed opportunities early on, and the Knights inability to consistently score on the powerplay hurt a little bit more. Even though VGK showed some life with a powerplay goal by Cody Glass eleven minutes into the second period, it proved to be too little too late as they did not score another goal the rest of the period. The Knights ended up falling to the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 after an empty-net goal by Jordan Oesterle, snapping their four-game winning streak.

While failed opportunities are always disappointing, there were still some positives that can be taken from Friday’s loss. The Knights finished the game leading in shots 31-26 and dominated the faceoff circle, winning 59.2% of them. They also have a chance to exact their revenge in less than 48 hours on Sunday afternoon. Coach Peter DeBoer made a great point after the game, stating that if the powerplay isn’t going to score, they at least need to stop sapping energy from the other parts of the game. I expect the Knights to respond accordingly and have a better showing on Sunday afternoon.

VGK and the Arizona Coyotes will continue their season series on Sunday afternoon at Gila River Arena. The puck drop is set for 1 p.m. 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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