“Nothing in the first period, where the Pens were out-shot 13-11”.
Advertisement
Arizona Coyotes’ Brad Richardson (12) checks Pittsburgh Penguins’…
If two games is any sort of indication of what’s to come this season for the Arizona Coyotes, fans have plenty of reason to be excited for the 2015-16 campaign, as the ‘Yotes move to 2-0 on the young season following Saturday night’s 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Gila River Arena in Glendale.
Pittsburgh Penguins’ Marc-Andre Fleury (29) makes a save on a shot… But just like they did in Thursday’s season opener, the Penguins had trouble getting pucks to go into the net.
The ‘Yotes would respond later in the period, however, as Jordan Martinook scored his first career goal two minutes later to give Arizona a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.
The Arizona Coyotes are still skating clean, even after a physical game versus the Kings. The Penguins won’t have it easy against the Coyotes, who knocked off the Los Angeles Kings 4-1 in their season opener Friday as goalie Mike Smith gobbled up 40 of 41 shots.
Defenseman Olli Maatta will be playing in a game for the first time since last December. 6.
Keep an eye on Max Domi again.
Stars winger Jamie Benn scored his team’s final goal, giving him five in his past six games against the Penguins. Kessel, Pittsburgh’s latest sharpshooter, took six shots, but Sidney Crosby failed to get one off and the Penguins failed in 37 attempts against Antti Niemi.
Maatta will be present when the Penguins open the regular season in Dallas Thursday and Sundqvist is expected to be back in Wilkes-Barre by then. Anthony Duclair gathered the puck off the backboards and wrapped a pass around the goal to the slot, where Rieder one-timed a shot past Fleury.
How is Phil Kessel looking with the Penguins? He picked the pocket of Coyotes captain Shane Doan in the neutral zone and cruised down the right wing, where he unleashed a howitzer that beat Smith and evened the score. Niemi is the first goalie in National Hockey League history to record two assists while earning a shutout. I think we’ll be at the point pretty soon where there shouldn’t be too much that we have to discuss, as far as where guys are going to be and things like that.
Advertisement
The Penguins cranked up the offensive pressure in the third period, peppering Smith with one shot after another. “It’s not good”, he said. “Anytime you’re playing against a goaltender who’s in a zone like that, you have to get a screen”, he said.
