Golden Knights Defeat Coyotes in Exhibition Game

The Vegas Golden Knights play their one and only exhibition game prior to playing the round-robin games during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. They played against the Arizona Coyotes at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. The Golden Knights won the game with a score of 4-1.

Here’s a recap of how the Golden Knights-Coyotes game went down.

1st Period

This game in general was all about special teams. The Coyotes took way too many penalties in this period. Vegas had a shorthanded goal on a Coyotes power play with about 11:30 to go in the period. VGK forward Reilly Smith scored the game’s first goal on a 2-on-1 shorthanded breakaway with forward William Karlsson. From there, it was all Golden Knights. They swarmed Arizona on the defensive end and got more scoring chances. The Knights also went on two power plays of their own with Smith scoring his second goal on their second power play.

Vegas also held Arizona to just two shots for most of the period until the final seconds when the Coyotes got two shots on goal.

Vegas takes the lead with a score of 2-0 after one period.

2nd Period

It was basically the same story: Arizona getting more penalties and Vegas dominating. The Golden Knights had chances to score on their power plays but none went into the back of the net. Smith also had a chance to get a hat trick with 2:42 to go but shot wide of the net. However, the Coyotes did produce more shots on goal this period getting seven shots on net. It was just the defensive presence from the Golden Knights that didn’t allow Arizona to score.

The score stays the same as Vegas holds on to a 2-0 lead.

3rd Period

This is where the game got a bit interesting for a moment. Coyotes forward Taylor Hall scored a power-play goal after Golden Knights forward Shea Theodore gets called for a slashing penalty. The Coyotes then went on another power play a couple of minutes later after VGK forward Tomas Nosek was called for a cross-checking penalty but they don’t convert on it. From the time of Hall’s PP goal, the Coyotes outshot the Knights 8-1. However, the Golden Knights weren’t fazed and forward Alex Tuch shot a sharp angle goal without looking at the net, which was a Connor McDavid type goal. Tuch regained the Golden Knights’ two-goal lead. In the end, the Golden Knights closed out the game on a Nick Cousins’ empty-net goal to extend their lead to three.

The Vegas Golden Knights won the game with a score of 4-1. Vegas also didn’t have Max Pacioretty during this game. He is still recovering from an undisclosed injury he sustained from training camp. The team hopes to get him back before they start the round-robin games.

Three Stars of the Game

Third star: Marc-Andre Fleury (22 saves)

Second star: Nick Cousins (1 goal, 2 assists)

First star: Reilly Smith (2 goals)

Feeling the support all the way in the bubble 🤗 pic.twitter.com/HjSiFLdM3P

— y-Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) July 31, 2020

The Golden Knights are set to play the Dallas Stars on Aug. 3 during the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. The Coyotes are going into the Stanley Cup Qualifiers as the No. 6 seed and will play against the No. 11 seed Nashville Predators.