Coyotes ugly loss
‘Soft game’ vs. Arizona proves hard lesson for Golden Knights
Gerard Gallant stayed in the Golden Knights locker room longer than normal after Tuesday’s loss “spreading some truth,” according to defenseman Nate Schmidt.
And then the coach, who rarely blasts his team in public, didn’t hold back with the media, either.
“I don’t like the way we played,” said a visibly frustrated Gallant. “I thought we played about 10 minutes of real good hockey tonight. There was no passion in our game. There was no aggressive forecheck in our game. We played a soft game and, in my opinion, we gave them three goals from our mistakes, not from what they deserved.
“I’ll give them credit, but when you give them three goals like that, you’re not going to win many games.”
The Knights showed little
pushback in the third period and suffered a 5-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes before an announced crowd of 18,212 at T-mobile Arena.
Brandon Pirri and Schmidt scored in the second period for the Knights, who tied a franchise record with their fourth straight loss at home. The Knights dropped four in a row from Feb. 27 through March 16.
The Knights fell to 16-8-3 at home and haven’t won at T-mobile since Jan. 19. The four-game homestand concludes with games against Toronto on Thursday and Nashville on Saturday.
“It should cost to score on us, and right now they’re not working much harder to get those goals, and that’s the problem,” Knights center Pierre-edouard Bellemare said. “We are making it a little too easy for them. … They came out in the third in our building and they wanted it more than us, and that’s not acceptable.”
Goaltender Marc-andre Fleury was unable to earn his 30th victory and finished with 21 saves.
The Knights faltered in the third period for the third time in their past four home games. Columbus erased a 3-2 lead with two goals in the third period Saturday, and Minnesota broke a 2-2 tie with two goals in the third Jan. 21.
“They came out strong, and they had a couple power plays early (in the third) and got some momentum out of it,” Fleury said. “I feel like that third period used to be our strong one where we finish teams. It’s not happening now, and maybe we have to play well defensively — myself included — to give us a chance to stay in the game.”
Arizona, which had lost five of its past six, broke a 2-2 tie with 10:39 left in the third period when Vinnie Hinostroza threw a pass in front that Nick Cousins banged in for his sixth goal.
The Coyotes went ahead 4-2 with 2:12 left when Josh Archibald flipped a backhand past Fleury after Schmidt slid to stop his pass on a 2-on-1.
Richard Panik added an empty-net goal for the Coy- otes, who hosted their Dad’s Trip.
“The other team come in our building and somehow are battling more than we are,” Bellemare said. “We’re not in a bad situation, but it’s happening too often. We’re just going to have to make sure we play consistent every shift.
“We know we have a solid group. It’s just we’re going to have to go back to what we know best, and it’s just working as hard as we can to get those goals.”