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The Vegas Golden Knights failed to kill two power plays by the Arizona Coyotes and dropped their first game of the season Friday, Jan. 22 to a final score of 5-2.
It was the first “road” game of the new year for the Knights as they traveled to Glendale to take on the Coyotes in game three of four straight and eight in total against the inner-division rivals.
"It’s tough enough to beat anyone twice in a row, never mind three times in a row, so we knew they were going to be good," Vegas head coach Peter DeBoer said. "We had some self-inflicted things tonight."
The Knights entered the first intermission trailing 1-0 following a power play goal by center Christian Dvorak.
Defenseman Shea Theodore tied things up at one-all at the start of the second period on an unassisted goal, but the Coyotes answered with back-to-back goals of their own to go up 3-1.
Knights young phenom Cody Glass scored a goal in the third period on a power play before the Coyotes knocked in one last goal to secure the win.
It was a quiet night for the Knights primary lines. DeBoer alluded to “self-inflicted” wounds that contributed to the loss for the Knights.
Second-year goalie Robin Lehner had a rough outing as well giving up five goals and was the victim of said “self-inflicted” mistakes by his teammates on the ice.
Lots of sloppy passes and mix-ups on transition did Vegas in as Arizona capitalized on a lot of the mistakes hence the five goals with two on power plays.
Vegas had 31 shots, with only two going their way.
The Knights still stand alone top of the division at 4-1.
They will see the same Coyotes team again on Sunday, Jan. 24 for game four of eight as the team acclimates to the routine schedule put together by the NHL in a year affected by COVID-19.