The Coyotes couldn't shake off the rust from their holiday break, falling 4-1 to the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Michael Grabner scored for the Coyotes, who couldn't power through a physical game that got dirty at times.
The Golden Knights struck first when Mark Stone potted a power-play goal at 9:05 of the first period, a play aided by the fact that Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers was hit in the face with the puck and taken out of the play.
The Coyotes responded to tie the game at 13:31 when a slick passing play between Conor Garland and Oliver Ekman-Larsson resulted in a tap-in for Michael Grabner on Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.