Golden Knights lose to Coyotes, fail to pad Pacific lead

LAS VEGAS -- The Vegas Golden Knights failed to extend their lead in the Pacific Division with a 3-2 loss against the Arizona Coyotes at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday.
Vegas (48-22-7), which had a five-game point streak end (3-0-2), remained five points ahead of the San Jose Sharks in the Pacific. Each has five games remaining.
Erik Haula and Alex Tuch scored for the Golden Knights, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves.

\[WATCH: All Coyotes vs. Golden Knights highlights\]
"I thought in the first, we were chasing the puck a little bit. Second and third, I thought we were dominant," Tuch said. "I thought we had a lot of good opportunities in the zone. We just weren't able to capitalize."
Kevin Connauton scored two goals for the Coyotes (27-39-11), who are 9-5-1 in their past 15 games. Clayton Keller extended his point streak to 10 games with an assist in the first period.

Antti Raanta made 27 saves for his seventh win in eight starts.
"I think we knew we've lost all the games against this team, and we wanted to show we're not that bad a team," Raanta said. "We played really smart. We worked hard."
Connauton scored on a 4-on-4 at 6:22 of the first period to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.
"When the opposing team scores first, it's kind of a downer," Tuch said. "You can't really control emotions sometimes. We were chasing the puck, chasing the game, chasing the score, and we can't do that."
Vegas tied it 1-1 on Haula's 29th goal of the season at 11:23.

Richard Panik scored for the fourth time in six games at 17:09 of the first period to give the Coyotes a 2-1 lead. Keller forced a turnover in the offensive zone, maneuvered through the defense and found Panik, who finished with a backhand shot.
Arizona outshot Vegas 15-5 in the first period on Wednesday.
"We had a great first game on the road trip in San Jose (a 2-1 overtime loss last Thursday), we had an unbelievable first period," Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant said. "The last three since then, we've been chasing. We've got to be more prepared for those starts.
"We had some great chances to score, but I want to be more consistent. I want our team to have a consistent, solid 60-minute effort. We haven't had that the last three games. We've got to pick it up."
Tuch tied it with a power-play goal at 14:44 of the second period, but Connauton scored his second of the game 59 seconds later at 15:43 to give the Coyotes a 3-2 lead.
"There's no one thing. Everyone as a group needs to be better," Tuch said. "We need to come out and play desperate, intense hockey and get ready for playoff hockey."

Goal of the game

Connauton's second goal at 15:43 of the second period.

Save of the game

Raanta against Tomas Tatar at 9:42 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Panik's goal at 17:09 of the first period.

They said it

"I like the way these guys are buying in. They've bought in since Jan. 1. You do the right things, good things happen. Some guys are developing quicker now. Our veterans are really leading. I can go down the list. Guys are playing well." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet
"I don't think it's rocket science. Our game is pretty simple. The mentality, I think, has got to be a little different going into the game. You don't want to get too negative in any way and we are in a great spot, but I've talked about it so much about getting to the game and being ready to play once it's time for the real games. But the fact of the matter is, we have to play these games that are left and we have to play them all." -- Golden Knights forward Erik Haula

Need to know

Keller has 14 points (five goals, nine assists) during his point streak. … Golden Knights forward David Perron was a late scratch. Tuch played on the first line; Tatar was on the second line with Haula and James Neal. … Golden Knights forward Oscar Lindberg played for the first time since Feb. 26 because of an undisclosed injury.

What's next

Coyotes:At the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; PRIME, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Golden Knights:Host the St. Louis Blues on Friday (10:30 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-MW, NHL.TV)