Pacioretty scores twice for Golden Knights in victory against Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. --Max Pacioretty scored twice, and the Vegas Golden Knights turned a four-goal second period into a 7-1 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Friday.

Evgenii Dadonov, Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (13-10-0), who had lost two straight and three of four. Laurent Brossoit made 29 saves.
"We needed a win. You look at the standings, you lose a couple in a row and all of a sudden there's teams climbing over you," Golden Knights coach Peter DeBoer said.
Fourteen of the 18 skaters scored at least one point in the Golden Knights' second seven-goal game of the season. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks 7-4 on Nov. 13.
Travis Boyd scored for the Coyotes (5-17-2), who lost their fourth in five games. Karel Vejmelka made 25 saves in his first start since making 46 saves in a 1-0 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.
"They're a good team over there, they've got a lot of skill and we just got beat up the ice a ton tonight," Boyd said. "Just look at all their goals off the rush, they were beating us up the ice all night."
Pacioretty's snapshot from the right point with Mark Stone screening Vejmelka on a power play gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 13:53 of the first period.
"We talked about not digging ourselves a hole early in games like we have been lately, and I thought we did that better tonight," DeBoer said.
Chandler Stephenson scored the Golden Knights' NHL-leading sixth shorthanded goal to make it 3-1 at 7:17 of the second. Arizona has been outscored 35-8 in the second period.
Vegas has scored three power-play goals and three shorthanded goals in its past two games.
"We want to win that special teams battle every night," DeBoer said. "If our penalty killing can shut them down and we can chip in a power-play goal here and there, it makes a big difference."

Pacioretty came out of the penalty box to score his second of the game for a 4-1 lead at 8:12. Pacioretty, out five weeks with a lower-body injury before returning Nov. 24, has scored five goals in six games.
"We did a good job of playing fast, moving the puck quick in transition. When we're able to do that, it's a huge game-changer," Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague said. "It gives us confidence when we can move it up quickly, stay out of the D-zone and play in the offensive zone."
Amadio scored his first goal since Dec. 14, 2019 for a 5-1 lead at 12:47. Dylan Coghlan stole the puck to set up Dadonov's goal at 15:08 to make it 6-1 and Roy scored at 17:54 of the third for the 7-1 final.
"It's frustrating," Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. "We take a lot of pride in being tough to play against, you've got to work hard against us. But when you get beat up the ice, when you give us odd-man rushes, it's a dream for an offensive player."

Jonathan Marchessault finished off a 2-1 break with Roy aided by a slow Arizona line change for a 1-0 Vegas lead at 6:58 of the first.
"Right off the bat, we just put a lot of pucks behind their defensemen and got our forecheck going, recovered a lot of pucks and got a lot of scoring chances off that," Marchessault said. "That's what created a little bit of our momentum.
Boyd scored his NHL career-high sixth goal 53 seconds later for a 1-1 tie at 7:51. He scored five goals in 2018-19.
NOTES: Pacioretty has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past four games. … Since entering the NHL in 2008-09, Pacioretty's 56 multigoal games ranks fourth behind Alex Ovechkin (122), Steven Stamkos (80), Sidney Crosby (66) and Joe Pavelski (57). … The Coyotes allowed five goals or more for the 10th time in 24 games. … Coyotes forward Johan Larsson was out with a lower-body injury. He had played in one game since being in NHL COVID-19 protocol for six games. … The Golden Knights are 15-6-0 against the Coyotes since joining the NHL in 2017-18. … Linesman Jonny Murray sat out the third period with a lower-body injury.