Golden Knights’ Keegan Kolesar secures 1st NHL point, souvenir

Keegan Kolesar got to take home a souvenir from his fifth NHL game.

The rookie forward received the puck from his first point Wednesday after the Golden Knights’ 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena. Kolesar recorded a secondary assist on defenseman Alex Pietrangelo’s first goal with the team, and the 13-year veteran didn’t want the puck because he has too many in his collection.

The keepsake should be a confidence booster for Kolesar after he played “his best game, for sure,” according to coach Pete DeBoer.

“Each game I’ve felt more comfortable, been given more opportunity, more ice time,” Kolesar said. “(I’m) just trying to roll with it as best I can.”

Kolesar, acquired from Columbus for a second-round pick in 2017, wasn’t a lock to make the opening-night roster. DeBoer even admitted the 23-year-old had a slow start in training camp.

But the Knights decided to keep him in part because he is no longer waiver exempt. If the team tried to send him to the American Hockey League or taxi squad, any of the other 30 NHL franchises could claim him. The Knights opened with 13 forwards and only five defensemen to avoid that.

The setup wasn’t ideal. Kolesar rotated on the third and fourth lines as the 13th forward in the first two games and received nine shifts. No one else played fewer than 28. He admitted that role was “kind of foreign territory.”

The Knights rostered 12 forwards for the past two games, and Kolesar got a regular role at third-line right wing Wednesday. The result was his best game of the season. He and his linemates Alex Tuch and Nicolas Roy were on the ice for the Knights’ first two goals, and Kolesar had a hand in each.

He screened goaltender Darcy Kuemper on defenseman Shea Theodore’s goal, then got his first point later in the first period. Tuch said Kolesar did an “unbelievable job” starting the play that resulted in Pietrangelo’s goal by carrying the puck into the offensive zone with a defender on him and passing it.

“We needed to see that,” DeBoer said. “It was nice to finally see his A-game.”

Glove save

Defenseman Zach Whitecloud might have made the first save of his career Wednesday when he used his glove to fling a puck between his legs and away from the net toward the end of the second period. He said the play was “just instinct, I guess.”