Arizona Coyotes (1-2-1) vs Vegas Golden Knights (4-0)
Game Info: Friday, January 22, 2021 at 9:00 pm (Gila River Arena)
Betting Odds: Arizona Coyotes +160 / Vegas Golden Knights -180 --- Over/Under: 5.5 Click Here for the Latest Odds
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The Vegas Golden Knights and the Arizona Coyotes meet in NHL action from the Gila River Arena on Friday night.
The Vegas Golden Knights will look to stay unbeaten after improving to 4-0 on the year with a 5-2 win over Arizona last time out. Mark Stone leads the Golden Knights in scoring with 7 points including a team-high 5 assists, with his 5 assists being more than any other Vegas player has total points up to this point in the season. Alex Tuch, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore and Max Pacioretty each have 4 points with Marchessault logging 3 assists while Pacioretty has a team-high 3 goals with a team-high 19 shots on goal. Theodore and Tuch each have a pair of goals and a pair of assists. Robin Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury have split the goaltending duties with both going 2-0 with Fleury logging a 1.51 GAA with 3 goals allowed on 45 shots while Lehner has a 2.01 GAA with 4 goals against on 54 shots against.
The Arizona Coyotes will look to get revenge after the loss to Vegas last time out. Jakub Chychrun has a team-high 5 points with a team-high 4 assists while Phil Kessel leads the ‘Yotes in the goal department with 4 goals and Derick Bassard, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Christian Dvorak all have 3 assists this season. Christian Keller and Nick Schmaltz both have 2 goals and an assists and Conor Garland has a goal and two helpers with a team-high 15 shots on goal up to this point in the year. Darcy Kuemper has seen the bulk of the action in goal with a 0-2-1 record, allowing 11 goals on 91 shots against for a 3.63 GAA this season.
Vegas is 27-10 in their last 37 games overall and 6-1 in their last 7 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 6-1 in their last 7 games as a road favorite. Arizona is 0-13 in the last 13 games in the second half of a home-and-home and 1-5 in their last 6 games overall while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games as an underdog. Vegas is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams and 4-1 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams in Arizona.
This kind of thing is all about timing and trying to figure out when to jump on and off of a team and for me, until the Golden Knights give you a reason to get off, you have to keep riding the hot hand until it pays off. Arizona’s just not consistent enough on offense to feel good backing against a Vegas team that’s rolling along early. I’ll back Vegas on the puck line in this spot to get some extra value out of the wager.
Chris’s Pick Vegas -1.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg