Golden Knights at Coyotes
The Vegas Golden Knights used the Arizona Coyotes as a springboard during their wildly successful inaugural season, sweeping a home-and-home set within the first week and beating their new Pacific Division rival four times in their first 26 games. When the teams meet for the first time this season on Wednesday in Arizona, Vegas is looking up in the standings at the Coyotes.
The Golden Knights have not won back-to-back games in a month and part of their struggles is a dismal 4-9-0 road record. “Any team can win a game in this league,” forward Reilly Smith said after Vegas answered a 6-3 win at Edmonton by getting mauled in Calgary 7-2. “If you’re going back and forth like we are right now, we’re just playing like a bad team." Arizona has lost five of seven (2-4-1) after splitting the first two contests of its five-game homestand against Nashville and Boston. The Coyotes have managed 14 goals during the last seven games and have been limited to two or fewer five times in that span.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TVAS, AT&T Sportsnet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas), FS Arizona Plus
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (9-12-1): While forward Jonathan Marchessault became the only Vegas player to reach 10 goals over the weekend, the hope is that Max Pacioretty is snapping out of his offensive slumber after scoring in back-to-back games in Alberta. Pacioretty, who turned 30 on Tuesday, was a five-time 30-goal scorer with the Montreal Canadiens but has just four tallies in his first season with Vegas. Marc-Andre Fleury, who has gone 11 straight starts without consecutive wins, went 2-1-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average versus the Coyotes last season.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (9-9-1): Brad Richardson scored a combined eight goals over the previous two seasons but notched his team-leading sixth in Saturday's 2-1 setback to the Bruins. Richardson has scored four times in nine games to overtake teammate Clayton Keller, who has failed to tally in that same span and remains stuck on five goals. "I think he's done some really nice stuff this year," coach Rick Tocchet said of Keller, a 23-goal scorer last season. "Teams are going to pay attention to him so he's going to have to change his game. I've talked to him about certain things."
OVERTIME
1. Coyotes D Alex Goligoski (lower body) and Jakob Chychrun (upper body) are game-time decisions for Wednesday.
2. Marchessault had two goals and six points in five meetings versus the Coyotes in 2017-18.
3. Arizona sent D Robbie Russo to Tucson of the American Hockey League.