Golden Knights Break Loose With Four Goals In Final Period To Polish Off Scrappy Arizona, 5-2, Wednesday
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
The Vegas Golden Knights’ scoring woes at home are no mirage. The VGK, a mediocre 8-9 at home after 17 games entering tonight’s game against the Arizona Coyotes, have been scoring only 2.35 goals a game in the loud confines of T-Mobile Arena.
The Knights have also dominated the Coyotes on home ice, winning eight straight here in Las Vegas since November 2019.
The VGK scored only a single goal through the first 40 minutes and entered the final stanza tied with Arizona at 1-1 before a crowd announced at 17,711.
But in the final stanza, the Knights scored two goals 54 seconds apart, with Mark Stone deflecting the puck past Coyotes netminder Karel Vejmelka for a power play tally and William Carrier making it 3-1 with his career-high tenth goal.
The Knights had scored first on a power play goal by defenseman Daniil Miromanov, his second of the season early in period two.
But the Coyotes countered with a tying goal by defenseman Juuso Valimaki less than a minute and a half after Miromanov’s tally.
After the Coyotes cut the third period deficit to 3-2, Stone scored a short-handed goal with about seven minutes left in the third period to restore the VGK’s two-goal edge to 4-2.
The Knights salted the game away with a fifth goal — their fourth in the third period — when Michael Amadio deflected the puck past Vejmelka for his second of the season with only 2:40 left in the final period. VGK goalie Logan Thompson stopped 22 of 24 shots.
Final: Vegas 5 Vegas 2.
The Knights improved to 9-9 at home and 23-11-1 overall, leading the Pacific Division wit 47 points — which is also the most in the Western Conference.
Vegas plays St. Louis on Friday.
