That’ll do it for the preseason.
The Arizona Coyotes finished their exhibition slate in Boise, Idaho on Saturday, dropping a 5-1 game to the Vegas Golden Knights at the Idaho Central Arena. Arizona will now turn its attention to finalizing its roster before opening the regular season at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Travis Boyd scored for the Coyotes, and goalie Jon Gillies stopped 21 of the 26 shots he faced.
The Coyotes recovered after falling down 3-0, using the momentum from Boyd’s first-period goal to outshoot Vegas 10-7 in the second.
“In the second we were the relentless team we wanted to be, and the forecheck was great,” said head coach André Tourigny. “We did good things. Not enough to win, but enough to get a lesson out of it.”
Boyd said the team’s response to the early deficit was to ratchet up its work ethic.
“We played with more tempo, we were more aggressive, and quite honestly, we just worked really hard,” he said. “That’s something as a group we’re going to need to dial in and figure out here, and that’s obviously the way we need to play to be successful and to go out there and win games.”
Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Roy, Jonathan Marchessault, Jack Eichel, and Alex Pietrangelo scored for the Golden Knights, who finished the preseason with four wins in their last five games.
Goalies Logan Thompson and Adin Hill split time in net, with Thompson stopping 14 of the 15 shots he faced, while Hill was 9-for-9.
Stephenson opened the scoring 5:55 into the game, and Roy made it a 2-0 game less than two minutes later.
Marchessault made it 3-0 at 15:11 of the first before Boyd cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 3-1 with just under two minutes left in the period.
Eichel and Pietrangelo each added a goal in the third period.
In addition to Boise, Arizona’s preseason schedule featured stops in Wichita, Kan. and Tulsa, Okla., presenting a unique opportunity for the Coyotes throughout their exhibition slate.
Tourigny said the team was thrilled to bring NHL hockey into those markets.
“It’s a cool experience to see the excitement in the eyes of the people, and to have something different,” he said. “It’s not every day those guys can watch an NHL game live, so the chance to be a part of it was great.”
The Coyotes play the Penguins on Thursday at 4 pm MST. The game will be televised on Bally Sports Arizona.
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