FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Coyotes - Game 52

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Coyotes – Game 52

Franchise Sports Media

Golden Knights (29-19-4)  | Arizona Coyotes (14-34-4)

Friday night, the Golden Knights lost a critical game to the lowly Arizona Coyotes 3-1.

Nick Schmaltz scored two goals, and Scott Wedgewood made 43 saves to lead the host Arizona Coyotes to a 3-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night in Glendale, Arizona. This game marked what will likely be the last game ever for the Vegas Golden Knights at Gila River Arena. The Coyotes will play in Arizona States’ multipurpose arena next season. All time they are 7-4 in the building.

Shayne Gostisbehere also scored for Arizona, which avenged a 7-1 loss to the Golden Knights in the first meeting between the two teams on Dec. 3. William Carrier scored for Vegas, which lost for the fourth time in the last five games. Laurent Brossoit finished with 29 saves.

Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 11:03 mark of the second period. Carrier’s spinning wrist shot from the left circle went past a screen and through Wedgewood’s pads for his sixth goal of the season.

Arizona tied it a few minutes later on Gostisbehere’s ninth goal of the season.

Jakob Chychrun set up the score with a pass to Gostisbehere at the right point, where he one-timed a long blast through heavy traffic and past Brossoit’s blocker side for the 250th point of his NHL career. Schmaltz gave Arizona a 2-1 lead early in the third period when he redirected Anton Stralman’s point shot past Brossoit’s glove side for his 10th goal of the season. It matched his total for the 2020-21 season.

Vegas had an excellent chance to tie it with about four minutes to go when Nicolas Roy had a wide-open net on a rebound try, but Clayton Keller got his stick on it to knock it away. Keller, who had a four-game goal streak snapped, then dug the puck out of the corner and fed Schmaltz in the high slot for an empty-net goal with 30.1 seconds left to seal the victory.

Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer was looking for his 500th career win as a coach in the NHL but will have to wait. DeBoer was very blunt and honest with his summary of Friday night’s game.

“We don’t have a lot of time to feel sorry for ourselves. For me, the story of the game was that we played well defensively our goalie was good enough to win. We got one goal tonight from our fourth line. I thought the first period was probably the turning point. I thought we had multiple chances to really put them in a hole with odd-man rushes and two powerplays, but we let them hang around, and that’s what happens when you let teams hang around.” said DeBoer

“There wasn’t a lot to like. These are the games you can’t lose, especially this time of year. It’s pretty costly. So we have to turn the page quick. We have an important one tomorrow,” said Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith, who had a handful of chances against Scott Wedgewood and the Coyotes.

The Los Angeles Kings have moved ahead of Vegas in the Pacific Division standings and now sit in second place with 63 points after securing a 4-1 win in Anaheim. The Golden Knights currently occupy the third slot with 62 points in 52 games with a difficult matchup against Colorado tomorrow evening.

The Vegas Golden Knights will return home to Las Vegas to host Colorado on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena. They drop the puck at 7:00 pm on AT&T Sports Net.