Coyotes 2, Penguins 1
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Second-year left winger Tobias Rieder and rookie left winger Jordan Martinook scored second-period goals and goalie Mike Smith made 27 saves as the Arizona Coyotes improved to 2-0 with a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at Gila River Arena.
The Coyotes started the season with two wins for the first time since the 2009-10 season when they also opened against Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.
The loss dropped the Penguins to 0-2 after a flurry of offseason moves ramped up Stanley Cup expectations.
Rieder opened the scoring five minutes into the second period when he won a puck battle deep in the Arizona zone and started the breakout. The puck eventually ended up behind the Penguins net, where right winger Anthony Duclair centered it to Rieder, who was trailing the play in the slot. Rieder somehow slipped a shot under goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with traffic in front.
Penguins right winger Phil Kessel tied the score 17 seconds later on a laser just inside the far post. The play materialized after Coyotes right winger Shane Doan turned the puck over in the neutral zone. It was Pittsburgh's first goal of the season after getting shut out in its opener by Dallas.
Arizona restored the lead when Martinook found a loose puck during a goal-mouth scramble and backhanded it off the post and in for a 2-1 lead at 7:29. It was Martinook's first career NHL goal after making the roster in a bit of a surprise last week.
NOTES: Coyotes D Zbynek Michalek missed the game and is day-to-day with an upper body injury. ... Coyotes coach Dave Tippett wasn't happy with the NHL's decision to schedule a road-and-home, back-to-back set for Arizona's first two games of the season, calling it a "unique" situation he'd never experienced before. Tippett wanted to start G Mike Smith in both games and eventually decided to do just that, but was worried about fatigue. "We'll make sense of nonsense," he said. ... Coyotes RW Shane Doan turned 39 on Saturday. He also passed Roman Hamrlik for 34th on the NHL's all-time games played list at 1,396. ... Penguins coach Mike Johnston replaced LW Bobby Farnham with LW Kevin Porter on the fourth line and the penalty-killing unit against Arizona. ... Penguins D Olli Maatta appeared in his 100th career game. ... Arizona's roster includes three former Penguins: C Joe Vitale, RW Steve Downie and Michalek. ... Coyotes C Antoine Vermette played in his 477th consecutive game, the second-longest active streak (Anaheim's Andrew Cogliano, 623) in the NHL.