GLENDALE, Ariz. — Coyotes coach Dave Tippett and GM Don Maloney have worked hard to temper expectations for the young players they have injected into the roster the past two seasons. In just two games, youth has blown those plans to smithereens.

Second-year winger Tobias Rieder scored his second goal in as many games and rookie winger Jordan Martinook scored his first career goal as the Coyotes improved to 2-0 for the first time since the 2009-10 season with a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at Gila River Arena.

In the past two games, the youth that Arizona hopes will form its core for years to come has produced 10 of the team’s 16 points. Rieder has two goals and an assist, Anthony Duclair has two assists, Max Domi has a goal and an assist, Martinook and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have goals and defenseman Connor Murphy has an assist.

“We’ve got young players that are doing the job,” coach Dave Tippett said. “Those young players have come in and earned the right to be in those positions and I think it gives our team energy.”

Rieder’s goal was the perfect example of a young player earning his way in Tippett’s demanding structure with what Tippett calls 200-foot play. Rieder won a puck battle along the boards deep in his own end to start a second-period breakout. Eventually, the puck ended up behind the Pittsburgh net where Duclair found Rieder crashing the slot for a 1-0 lead.

“It was a real good goal,” Tippett said.

Tippett noted earlier in camp that he fully expects his young players to take a step back at some point this season — whether that means a line demotion, a healthy scratch, or even reassignment to the American Hockey League to hone some details. It’s part of the growth process, and “that happens on every single NHL team,” he said.

On the flip side, it’s impossible to miss the vibe that Domi, Duclair, Rieder and Martinook bring to the team. During a photo shoot toward the end of training camp, Domi was standing between Ekman-Larsson and Doan and the trio was supposed to maintain a serious pose. The photographer had to pause at least a half dozen times, however, because Ekman-Larsson and Domi kept cracking up like kids in a classroom.

“It makes it so much fun to come to work when you have those young guys around,” Doan said. “Some of these guys are almost half my age and they look at the world so differently than I do. It really does give you energy.”

It can’t be stated enough that the Coyotes are only two games into a long season. There will be plenty of peaks and valleys in the upcoming months, especially for young players not accustomed to the 82-game grind, but with the first wave of youth here, it’s tantalizing to wonder what will happen when the next wave arrives.

Dylan Strome, the team’s top pick in 2015, recorded five assists in his OHL debut this week. Brendan Perlini, the team’s top pick in 2014, has five goals in five games with Niagara of the OHL. Both those players have a good chance of joining this group next season, as do forwards Henrik Samuelsson and Christian Dvorak.

As you watched the Coyotes play Saturday against Pittsburgh, there was pace to their game thanks to that youth, there was skill in their game thanks to that youth, and there was hope at Gila River Arena thanks to that youth.

“I think everybody feels it,” Rieder said. “You can just feel the energy in here and we translated it well the last couple games onto the ice.”

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