Nick Schmaltz scored two goals and Scott Wedgewood made 43 saves to lead the host Arizona Coyotes to a 3-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday night in Glendale, Ariz.
Shayne Gostisbehere also scored for Arizona, which avenged a 7-1 loss to the Golden Knights in the first meeting between the two teams on Dec. 3.
William Carrier scored for Vegas, which lost for the fourth time in the last five games. Laurent Brossoit finished with 29 saves.
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 11:03 mark of the second period. Carrier's spinning wrist shot from the left circle went past a screen and through Wedgewood's pads for his sixth goal of the season.
Arizona tied it a few minutes later on Gostisbehere's ninth goal of the season.
Jakob Chychrun set up the score with a pass to Gostisbehere at the right point, where he one-timed a long blast through heavy traffic and past Brossoit's blocker side for the 250th point of his NHL career.
Schmaltz gave Arizona a 2-1 lead early in the third period when he redirected Anton Stralman's point shot past Brossoit's glove side for his 10th goal of the season. It matched his total for the 2020-21 season.
Vegas had an excellent chance to tie it with about four minutes to go when Nicolas Roy had a wide-open net on a rebound try, but Clayton Keller got his stick on it to knock it away.
Keller, who had a four-game goal streak snapped, then dug the puck out of the corner and fed Schmaltz in the high slot for an empty-net goal with 30.1 seconds left to seal the victory.
The Golden Knights, who return to Las Vegas to host Colorado on Saturday night, played without top goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault and defenseman Dylan Coghlan who both had the flu. Left wing Max Pacioretty, seen bent over and wincing on the bench after a center ice collision late in the second period, didn't play in the third period.
--Field Level Media
Vegas | Arizona | |
William Carrier 1 | Points | Nick Schmaltz 2 |
William Carrier 1 | Goals | Nick Schmaltz 2 |
Brayden McNabb 1 | Assists | Jakob Chychrun 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Laurent Brossoit .935 | Save Percentage | Scott Wedgewood .977 |
Laurent Brossoit 29 | Saves | Scott Wedgewood 43 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Vegas | 44 | 1 | 0-2 | 3-3 | 6 | 31 |
Arizona | 32 | 3 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 4 | 21 |