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By PERRY COHEN
Cronkite News
GLENDALE — After helping the Vegas Golden Knights become just the third expansion team to begin its inaugural season 2-0, the Arizona Coyotes hope for a better result when the two meet Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip.
The teams first met Saturday, a significant day in Coyotes history. It marked the anniversary of the first win in team history (1996). It was also the organization’s first meeting with the Golden Knights.
The day started with a red carpet introduction. Players and front office personnel walked through the main gate of Gila River Arena talking to fans and signing autographs. The media crew came through, too, including new radio announcer Paul Bissonnette.
Before a game that featured a sellout crowd of 17,125, the organization held a moment of silence for those affected by the shooting on the Las Vegas strip. Fans around the arena had signs and shirts that read “Vegas Strong.”
The Golden Knights recently announced the Foley Family Charitable Foundation and the Chicago Wolves, Vegas’ AHL affiliate, would donate $200,000 to those impacted by the event.
The singing of the national anthem by “America’s Got Talent” finalist and Arizona native Evie Claire followed the moment of silence.
The Coyotes started hot and took a one-goal lead 5:52 into the game. The goal, scored by Tobias Rieder, was his first of the season.
The Coyotes held a one-goal lead going into the third period until Vegas defenseman Nate Schmidt put his team on the board with 1:12 remaining in the game.
Arizona would eventually lose in overtime when James Neal scored the deciding goal.
Despite the loss, Coyotes’ goalie Antii Raanta shined in his debut, saving 42 shots on 44 attempts.
“I felt great,” Raanta said. “We came up a little bit short but we are going to learn from it. It’s tough but you need to be fair to the game.”
Raanta is coming off a lower body injury that kept him off the ice in the team’s season opener against Anaheim.
The loss to Vegas marked the second game in a row the Coyotes couldn’t hold onto an early lead.
“I think we sat back again,” Rieder said. “(The Golden Knights) were coming full force in the second period and we just didn’t play well enough.”
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson was disappointed with losing the lead for the second game in a row.
“We’ve been talking about that for two days now,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We have had the chance to get two points but we can’t close it out and play when we need to.”
The loss, which moves the team to 0-2, has coach Rick Tocchet searching for his first win with the team.
“Overtime we had a bunch of chances,” Tocchet said. “There was that middle part of the game where we sat back.”
Golden Knights forward James Neal has scored the winning goal in both games this season. Vegas defeated the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Friday.
“(Friday) was one of the best feelings I’ve had in hockey,” Neal said. “We said we wanted to roll it up again today and get a big win and go home a happy team and we did that.”
The Golden Knights’ veteran presence on the bench and ability to play smart hockey kept them from getting frustrated with the slow start, Neal said.
Tocchet doesn’t believe the loss is a byproduct of a young inexperienced team.
“We don’t want to give young guys excuses around here, “Tocchet said. “That’s the first mandate.”
