Golden Knights Gameday: Stone Stays Hot, VGK Go For 5

The Vegas Golden Knights look to go a perfect 5-0 tonight in Arizona against the Coyotes. The game is the first VGK road game of the season and third straight against the Coyotes.

Vegas Golden Knights 4-0-0 at Arizona Coyotes 1-2-1

The Vegas Golden Knights come into the game as one of the league’s hottest teams, reeling off four straight wins to start the 2021 season. In the last meeting between the two clubs Wednesday night, Vegas built a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-2 victory. For the first time this season the Golden Knights received goals from the defense with Shea Theodore scoring twice and Alex Pietrangelo notching his first goal for Vegas. Mark Stone extended his point streak  to four games (2-5-7) with a goal and an assist, while Alex Tuch scored once and added two assists.

Overall, Vegas has seen 16 of its 18 players record at least a point in the team’s first four games.

Marc-Andre Fleury earned the win with 21 saves on the night. Fleury is now 2-0 on the season with a 1.51 GAA and .933 save percentage.

Keep an Eye On

VGK – Mark Stone is absolutely on fire for the Vegas Golden Knights. Stone has recorded five assists and seven points in his first four games this season, while linemate Max Pacioretty (3-1-4) also has points in Vegas’ first four contests. Stone has recorded multiple-point games in three of his first four appearances this season and has been a major factor in the Golden Knights fast start. Stone is tied for the league lead in scoring with seven points and tied for fourth with five assists. Both of Stone’s goals have been game-winners.

Amazingly, Stone is also just the fourth player in NHL history to lead his team to a 4-0 start by recording a point on the game-winning goal in each game. He joins Radek Bonk (OTT 1999-00), Pat Verbeek (DAL 1996-97) and Jean Beliveau (MTL 1970-71).

ARI – Jakob Chychrun is on a historic run to start the season for the Arizona Coyotes. He is the first Coyotes defenseman – and fifth in franchise history – to start the season on a four-game point streak. The last player to do so was current Coyotes assistant coach Phil Housley back in the 1991-92 season when the franchise was still located in Winnipeg. If you were to stretch his run back to last season, Chychrun has points in 10 of his last 13 games (3-9-12).

Notes:

Vegas Golden Knights:

• The VGK finally scored a power play goal when Alex Tuch put the puck past Darcy Kuemper at 6:14 of the third period on Wednesday. The club is now 1-for-14 with the man advantage.
• So far, Vegas has shown it doesn’t matter which team scores first. Despite notching the first goal of the game in only two of its first four, the Golden Knights have won every game so far. In fact, the team is already 2-0 when trailing after two periods of play. Not a trend they’d like to continue, but comforting to know they aren’t out of any game.
• Tonight is the first road game of the season for Vegas, and the team will play four of its next six games away from T-Mobile arena. The Golden Knights went 17-13-4 on the road last season.
• Reilly Smith notched his 100th assist as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights in Wednesday night’s win over the Coyotes.
• Shea Theodore’s plus-8 rating leads the NHL.

Arizona Coyotes

• Phil Kessel scored again on Wednesday night giving him four goals in as many games for the Coyotes. Kessel’s hot start stands in stark contrast to last season, when he scored just 14 goals all season. His total is just one off the league lead shared by the Vancouver Cancuks Bo Horvat and Montreal Canadiens Tyler Toffoli.
• Arizona is now back home for its next four games before six tough road games against the St. Louis Blues, Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche.
• Nick Schmaltz has goals in back-to-back games for the Coyotes.