<p>LAS VEGAS — Reilly Smith scored twice to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 7-4 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night.</p>
<p>Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier, Keegan Kolesar, Chandler Stephenson, and Max Pacioretty also scored for the Golden Knights, while Robin Lehner made 22 saves.</p>
<p>After opening a 5-0 lead early in the second period, Vegas survived a third-period rally and improved to 12-5-0 all-time against Arizona, including 4-1-0 this season.</p>
<p>Nick Schmaltz, Dryden Hunt, Clayton Keller, and Michael Bunting scored for the Coyotes..</p>
<p>Adin Hill stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced in the first two periods, while Ivan Prosvetov entered the game to start the third and stopped three of four.</p>
<p>Arizona, which was playing the sixth game during a season-high nine-game road trip, entered the game having won six of its previous eight (6-2-0). The weary Coyotes are nearing the end of a stretch where they play 16 of 20 games away from Gila River Arena.</p>
<p>It didn’t take long for the Golden Knights to victimize Hill, as they opened a 4-0 lead in less than nine minutes, including goals on a power-play, short-handed, and from their fourth line. By keeping pressure on Arizona’s defense, and creating turnovers, Vegas outshot the Coyotes 22-8 in the first period – including 13 of the first 14 shots in the game.</p>
<p>The Golden Knights led Arizona in high-danger chances 10-1 after the first period.</p>
<p>The danger carried into the second, when Stephenson gave Vegas a 5-0 lead early on, while ending a 13-game goal-scoring drought.</p>
<p>Arizona showed some life late in the period, making a push during a power play when Schmaltz was finally able to solve Lehner with a wrist shot stick side.</p>
<p>The Coyotes made things interesting with goals on their first three shots of the third.</p>
<p>Smith notched his second goal of the game to stop the bleeding, briefly, when he beat Prosvetov top shelf, far side to push Vegas’ lead back to a short-lived three goals. Bunting answered 15 seconds later when he drew Lehner away from the net, waited for an opening, and beat him with an open look.</p>
<p>Pacioretty’s empty-net goal iced the game.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>The teams conclude their two-game set in Las Vegas on Sunday.</p>
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