The Vegas Golden Knights had a pair of franchise firsts, the Coyotes goaltending situation is far from clear, and Winnipeg’s scoring surge to open games continues.
Here are three things we learned in the NHL on Tuesday night.
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Vegas perfect on penalty shots
The Golden Knights have a franchise conversion rate of 100 per cent on penalty shots.
David Perron beat Henrik Lundqvist five-hole with one minute remaining in the second period for the first penalty shot in franchise history.
Perron was in on a breakaway when he had his hands hooked, which prompted the decision by the referee.
The goal was all for naught as the New York Rangers rallied to score four times in the third period and beat the Golden Knights 6-4. Vegas lost back-to-back games for the first time in franchise history.
It didn’t help that the Golden Knights were without their Nos. 1, 2 and 3 goalies and had Maxime Lagace between the pipes. The former P.E.I. Rocket turned aside 32-of-37 shots.
New York’s win may have also saved head coach Alain Vigneault’s job as there was chatter before the game that he was on the hot seat.
Wedgewood starts slow for Coyotes
Scott Wedgewood helped the Arizona Coyotes pick up their first win of the season on Monday night, so head coach Rick Tocchet went back to him again on Tuesday in Detroit.
Whether it was fatigue or something else, Wedgewood’s start against the Red Wings was less than ideal as he allowed two goals in the first 2:37.
Arizona tried to climb back, but fell 5-3 to Detroit and dropped to 1-11-1 on the season.
Wedgewood, who made 35 saves, was acquired by the Coyotes on Saturday to try and shore up their shaky goaltending this season. Whether Tocchet will go back to Wedgewood again on Thursday at home against Buffalo remains to be seen.
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Jets continue first-period trend
Kyle Connor scored his second goal of the season in the first period of Winnipeg’s 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild.
Normally this wouldn’t be that exciting of a stat, but Connor’s goal continued the Jets’ streak of first period scoring. Winnipeg scored in the first for the fifth straight game although it was nowhere near the five goals they put up in the first 20 minutes of its 7-1 rout of Pittsburgh on Sunday.
The Jets also had a goal disallowed in the game’s opening minute.
Winnipeg has won back-to-back games and received solid play in net from Connor Hellebuyck.
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