Golden Knights fall to Coyotes, 3-2
The Golden Knights’ difficulty in the first period started two weeks ago but was easy to overlook as they accumulated points.
It was impossible to ignore Wednesday.
The Knights continued their recent — and worrisome pattern — of falling behind in the first period and missed a chance to extend their lead in the Pacific Division by losing 3-2 to last-place Arizona at T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s a letdown,” Knights forward Erik Haula said. “We left two points out there. I don’t really know how to explain it.”
The Knights (48-22-7, 103 points) hit the post four times overall, including twice by James Neal in the third period, and failed to increase their five-point lead over San Jose in the division with five games remaining.
The Sharks visit Nashville on Thursday and play at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday in a game that could decide the division title.
Haula and Alex Tuch scored for the Knights, who trailed 2-1 after the first period.
“It’s the slow starts, that’s what bothers me,” Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. “I want to be more consistent. I want our team to be a consistent, solid 60-minute effort and we haven’t had that the last three games. So, we’ve got to pick it up, we’ve got to get focused, we’ve got to get ready. Like I said, every two points is important.”
Defenseman Kevin Connauton scored two goals for the Coyotes (27-39-11, 65 points) and goaltender Antti Raanta made 27 saves. He turned away Neal in the final 10 seconds from close range.
“The last couple games we’ve been lacking in the first period,” Tuch said. “You see the last 40 minutes of the last couple games, and we’ve been dynamite. I think we’re dominant. We give the team absolutely nothing. That’s the type of game we want to play, especially in our home barn. We can’t let games slip like that, especially in the playoffs.”
Tuch redirected Jonathan Marchessault’s drive from the point for a power-play goal that tied the score at 2 with 5:17 remaining in the second period.
But Connauton put the Coyotes up 3-2 less than a minute later when his wrist shot from the point got through traffic.
“We were chasing the entire game,” Tuch said. “We’ve just got to be better out of the gate.”
The Knights emphasized putting together a complete game after struggling to do so in recent weeks but were thoroughly outworked by the Coyotes in the first period. Arizona owned a 15-5 advantage in shots on goal and capitalized on some sloppy defensive play by the Knights.
Connauton was left uncovered at the side of the net during 4-on-4 and banged home a loose puck at 6:22 to put the Knights in an early one-goal hole.
And Clayton Keller helped give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead, as the talented rookie stole the puck from Pierre-Edouard Bellemare along the wall and danced around Tomas Nosek before finding Richard Panik alone in front. Panik made a move around Fleury to his backhand and calmly slid it under his outstretched right pad with 2:51 remaining in the period.
The Knights were gifted the tying goal when Neal pounced on a turnover by Arizona’s Jakob Chychrun and found Haula for his 29th goal with 8:37 left in the period. Haula moved one goal shy of becoming the 12th Finnish-born player to record a 30-goal season in the NHL.
“I don’t think it’s rocket science,” Haula said. “Our game is pretty simple, and like I said, it’s just the mentality has got to be a little bit different going into the game. You don’t want to get negative in any way, and we are in a great spot, but I’ve talked about it so much getting to the game we want to play once it’s time for the real games.
“But the fact of the matter is, we have to play these games that are left, and you have to play them well.”
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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.
