The Coyotes made a statement defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 2-0 on Saturday night in what was a much needed win.
The Arizona Coyotes went into Las Vegas with a mission to defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Coyotes ultimately accomplished their goal as they beat the Golden Knights 2-0 on Saturday night in what was an important victory.
While Arizona has not faced much adversity yet to start the season, prior to this matchup they were in the midst of a three-game losing streak, feeling the most pressure the team has felt all year long.
The Golden Knights are the top team in the Pacific Division up to this point so it would take a gutsy performance to escape the Las Vegas strip with a victory.
It wasn’t easy. The Coyotes were outshot 13-5 and 20-10 in the first two periods but it was Connor Ingram who really kept this team in the contest.
Ingram made everything look so simple out there making save after save and despite a resilient effort by the Golden Knights, they just couldn’t get anything past Ingram.
Against a team like the Golden Knights, it’s important to just hang around and the score remained 0-0 for most of the night which benefited the Coyotes greatly as it only takes one shot for the complexity of the game to change.
The Coyotes would finally score the first goal of the night 10:33 into the third period as Logan Cooley made a great play to keep puck possession. He gave Nick Schmaltz a pass from behind the net, which found its way to Clayton Keller, who scored for the eighth time this season.
Cooley was put on this first line alongside Keller and Schmaltz just a few days ago and he is already making a big impact which is a godd sign of things to come for the 19-year-old rookie.
The Coyotes were able to hold on to their one goal lead and put the dagger in Vegas’ hearts in the form of a Lawson Crouse empty net goal with just over a minute left to cap off an impressive upset.
It’s clear that the Coyotes couldn’t have won this game without Ingram. The 26-year-old goaltender was phenomenal from start to finish making a total of 34 saves while looking cool, calm and collected throughout the 60 minutes of play.
This performance marks Ingram’s second career shutout which he earned and was well deserved to say the least.
Arizona was in dire need of a win so this was exactly what they needed especially against the defending champions and a top tier team in the Western Conference.
The Coyotes will look to build off of this victory as they are set for a five-game homestand.