When the Penguins acquired Phil Kessel this offseason, they brought him on board to do one thing: score goals. Kessel did his part by scoring the Pens first goal of the season with the kind of wrist shot that has made him one of the league’s most dangerous snipers, but the rest of the team failed to cash in against Arizona goaltender Mike Smith, and the Penguins dropped their second straight game to start the 2015-16 with a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Coyotes.
For the second consecutive game, the Penguins ran into a hot goalie that stymied their offense. Smith was spectacular, stopping 27-of-28 shots to earn his second victory in as many nights.
The Coyotes got on the board first at the 5-minute mark of the second period. The play started when Ian Cole inadvertently played the backwards into his own zone at the blue line and negated a delayed offside call on Arizona.
The puck went right to Martin Hanzal, whose shot missed the net, but the Penguins, who were still out of position from the odd play at he blue line, were unable to react quickly enough and Anthony Duclair scooped up the rebound. He then fed a streaking Tobias Rieder, who was wide open in the slot and roofed his shot over Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Kessel made his presence known just 17 seconds later. 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.
The Coyotes scored what would be the eventual game-winner just over two minutes later. Former Penguins winger Steven Downie caused havoc the crease of Fleury, digging free the rebound of a Boyd Gordon shot and eventually allowing Jordan Martinook to slide the puck over the line.
The Penguins made a furious effort to even the score in the third period, but were unable to solve Smith, who made several athletic saves to keep his team in the lead.
For the second consecutive game, Sidney Crosby was held without a shot. Evgeni Malkin had only one, as wingers Patric Hornqvist (5) and Kessel (3) did heavy offensive lifting. Fleury made 37 saves in a losing effort.
Rookies Daniel Sprong and Sergei Plotnikov both accquitted themselves well, despite Plotnikov being demoted to the third line mid-game and Sprong seeing only 7:57 of ice time. Forward Kevin Porter had a shot and a hit and was a minus-1 in his Penguins debut.
The Penguins will now return home for their Consol Energy Center opener on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens.
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