Coyotes sleepy in exhibition defeat
Fans hoping to see a complete, 60minute Coyotes team playing its first competitive hockey since the NHL season paused in March were disappointed after watching a 4-1 exhibition loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday in Edmonton.
The Coyotes, playing in their first and only tune-up game before dropping the puck on a five-game playoff series with the Nashville Predators on Sunday, managed just five shots in the first period and dug themselves an early two-goal hole after the first 20 minutes.
“I thought our first four or five minutes were okay and then Vegas started taking over,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said in a Zoom call with reporters after the game.
The Coyotes’ first goal allowed came while the team was staked to its first power play of the game.
A missed connection between Coyotes forwards Phil Kessel and Clayton Keller led to an odd-man rush for Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith to beat Coyotes goaltender Darcy Kuemper on his glove side.
Smith scored again less than eight minutes later with the Golden Knights on a power play of their own, beating Kuemper’s glove for the second time in the opening frame.
It was an undisciplined effort for the Coyotes, who not only lacked execution early on but committed five minor penalties in the first 30 minutes of the game.
“We were taking penalties,” Tocchet said.
“Those are the details of the game, a little undisciplined. You can’t do that in a playoff game . ... I didn’t like those tonight.”
The Coyotes found their legs in the third period and added a goal when forward Taylor Hall found the back of the net on the power play. The goal was the result of superb puck movement by the Coyotes’ man-advantage unit, which contributed to relentless in front of the Vegas net.
“I thought in the third period we played more to our identity,” Coyotes forward Christian Fischer told reporters in a Zoom call after the game. “I thought the first couple minutes of the first, too, we did a good job keeping it simple . ... When we play a simple game, that creates more space for guys.
“You look at the third period, we had way more zone time, way more shots. We gave ourselves a chance to win in the third period.”
Eventually, Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was flopping around like a fish out of water as a loose puck found a striding Hall in the slot. Hall needed only to cast the puck into an open cage for the score.
Just a few minutes later, however, the Golden Knights answered back with a goal that beat Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta, who relieved Kuemper in the third period per the coaches’ plan.
Vegas added a fourth goal in the final seconds, taking advantage of an empty Coyotes’ net.
The Coyotes open their series against Nashville on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. Arizona time.
“Win or lose, we’re still eyeing Game 1 (against Nashville) as peaking, as being our best performance,” Hall said. “Tonight wasn’t the result we wanted, but sometimes it’s better to get a kick from behind to reinforce what we have to do as a team, how we have to play.”
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