Conor Garland scored two goals and Darcy Kuemper finished with 37 saves as the Arizona Coyotes recorded their first win of the season with a 4-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday in Glendale, Ariz.
Nick Schmaltz and Niklas Hjalmarsson also scored for Arizona. It was the third career two-goal game for Garland.
Shea Theodore scored the lone goal for Vegas, which suffered its second consecutive loss.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 13 saves in relief of Malcolm Subban, who turned aside 12 shots in his first start of the season before leaving with an undisclosed injury.
Arizona, which entered the game with just one goal over its first two games, doubled that in the first period while taking a 2-1 lead.
Garland started the scoring at the eight-minute mark when his centering pass hit the skate of Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague and bounced past Subban.
Schmaltz made it 2-0 at 19:21 of the first period after cutting in from the right side of the net and banging in a Christian Dvorak crossing pass.
Vegas cut it to 2-1 just 34 seconds later, as Theodore's wrist shot from the top of the right circle sailed past a screen by Max Pacioretty and off the far post.
Arizona picked up a bench minor for unsuccessfully using a coaches' challenge for goaltender interference on Theodore's goal.
It turned out to be a plus for the Coyotes, however, as William Karlsson's high pass back to the right point went past Deryk Engelland and out to center ice, where Garland was leaving the penalty box. Garland scooped up the loose puck, went in on a breakaway and beat Fleury with a backhand shot that bounced in off the left post to give the Coyotes a 3-1 lead.
Hjalmarsson, who failed to score a goal in 82 games last season, increased Arizona's lead to 4-1 late in the second period with his first goal since March 5, 2018, at Edmonton. Hjalmarsson fired a slap shot from the right point through traffic into the top left corner.
-- Field Level Media
Vegas | Arizona | |
Shea Theodore 1 | Points | Conor Garland 2 |
Shea Theodore 1 | Goals | Conor Garland 2 |
Cody Glass 1 | Assists | Carl Soderberg 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Marc-Andre Fleury .867 | Save Percentage | Darcy Kuemper .974 |
Marc-Andre Fleury 13 | Saves | Darcy Kuemper 37 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Vegas | 38 | 1 | 0-4 | 2-2 | 4 | 26 |
Arizona | 29 | 4 | 0-2 | 4-4 | 8 | 29 |