The New Jersey Devils have been struggling lately with getting wins, on and off. They made an astonishing effort against the Dallas Stars on Thursday and defeated them 6-2 after two straight losses. Arizona got their 28th win of the season, another team that has been struggling this season. In their previous game, they defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 and defeated the Devils 4-1 for two straight wins. The Coyotes have also recently put an end to a 14-game skid that began on January 24th and ended on March 1st. Nick DeSimone scored the lone goal for New Jersey, successfully avoiding a shutout.
Devils lineup against the Coyotes:
Hughes - Hischier - Mercer
Meier - Haula - Bratt
Palat - Nosek - Lazar
MacDermid - Tierney - Holtz
Hughes - Nemec
Hatakka - Smith
Bahl - DeSimone
Kahkonen
Daws
Coyotes lineup against the Devils:
Keller - Bjugstad - Schmaltz
Crouse - Cooley - Guenther
Maccelli - Kerfoot - Carcone
Leonard - McBain - O'Brien
Moser - Durzi
Valimaki - Kesselring
Dermott - Brown
Vejmelka
New Jersey fell short three-nothing in the first period, unable to get any shots into the back of the net. The Devils allowed the opening goal for the 49th time in 67 games, league-leading.
Opening the scoring to get Arizona the 1-0 lead - J.J. Moser toe-dragged the puck to the top of the slot after he received a pass from Sean Durzi, recording his fifth goal of the season. Dylan Guenther gave the Coyotes a 2-0 lead later into the first period at 5:58, a snap shot short side at the left face-off circle. Guenther has a total of eight points in the past nine games after scoring this goal. After Nick DeSimone's pass had been intercepted by Lawson Crouse in front of the Devils' net, Logan Cooley went for the 3-0 lead to wrap up the opening 20 minutes.
Nick DeSimone put New Jersey on the board early in the second at 12:59, recording his second goal of the season. This was also his second game as a Devil since being claimed off waivers from the Calgary Flames on the 25th of January. DeSimone drove to the net after starting a rush, then off a pass from Curtis Lazar, he scored inside the left post.
This was the only goal scored throughout the middle frame and was the Devils' attempt at a comeback, which unfortunately did not work out in the remainder of the game. New Jersey replaced Kaapo Kahkonen with Nico Daws.
The third period had been completely scoreless until 1:32 - Clayton Keller struck New Jersey's empty net after Nico Daws had been pulled for the 4-1 final. Keller's goal marked his fifth in six games, and his 27th goal of the season.
Nick DeSimone on his goal: "I'm just trying to help win games and obviously, (the goal) was overshadowed by the bad play by me. We didn't win, so it doesn't matter."
Nico Daws on getting back in the net after Kaapo Kahkonen had been pulled: "Unexpected, for sure, but it's my job to be ready to go whenever, wherever... One-hundred percent. With three goalies every time you get in, you got to give them a reason to want to put you back in. That's my goal every time... It felt good to be back at it."
Curtis Lazar on the Devils' 4-1 loss in Arizona: "We played well for 48 minutes, but that's not going to cut it in this league. Those were points we've got to have - we got to dig in and want it. It doesn't matter what time the game is, we got to be ready to go. Just not good enough. This whole season, we've had a hard time building momentum and wins together, and tonight was another prime example of that."
Notes:
- Kaapo Kahkonen had allowed three goals on 15 in the first period, then was replaced by Nico Daws, who stopped all 16 shots he faced.
- John Marino had missed his second straight game since sustaining an upper-body injury... Kahkonen played in his second game with the Devils.
- Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist... His secondary assist on Dylan Guenther's goal marked his 400th NHL career point, and he joined Shane Doan as the only Coyotes players with at least 400 career points since the franchise had relocated to Arizona in 1996.
Keller has 401 points (160 goals, 241 assists)... Doan had 955 points (395 goals, 560 assists) in 20 seasons for the Arizona Coyotes after playing for the Winnipeg Jets for one season.
- Karel Vejmelka made a total of 37 saves for Arizona, and Nick Schmaltz recorded three assists.
- The Arizona Coyotes have swept the two-game season series against the Devils for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
*All photos used by the New Jersey Devils used with permission*
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