Fabian Zetterlund and Kevin Bahl scored their first career goals, leading the New Jersey Devils to a 6-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night.
Tomas Tatar and Jesper Boqvist scored 22 seconds apart late in the second period to give the Devils a 4-2 lead. Yegor Sharangovich added two goals in the final five minutes of the third period and an assist, helping the Devils secure their second straight win after ending a five-game losing streak with a victory in Dallas on Saturday.
“It’s always exciting to see anybody get their first goal,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. I haven’t seen Kevin smile that much for a long time. That was the biggest smile. Congrats to both guys.
“With bigger roles, they have played well for us. I really like the way Fabian played with Nico (Hischier) the other night and again tonight. It’s good to see them come up and have success.”
Hischier had three assists while playing on a line with Zetterlund and Sharangovich. Nico Daws made 19 saves in his second consecutive victory.
“Got rewarded for playing the game right,” Ruff said. “Competed hard on pucks and got guys around the net.”
Nick Schmaltz and Travis Boyd scored for the Coyotes, who have lost four in a row and 11 of their last 13 games. Schmaltz has a career-high 23 goals and tied his career-best with 52 points, adding an assist on Boyd’s goal.
The Coyotes have scored just five goals in their last four games and eight in six since losing leading scorer Clayton Keller to a season-ending leg injury.
Zetterlund played in his sixth NHL game, his third since being recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League last Thursday. Bahl was playing in his 15th career game, his eighth this season.
Boyd put the Coyotes up 1-0 just 73 seconds into the game with a quick wrist shot from the right circle after taking a centering pass from Schmaltz.
Zetterlund tied it at 10:51 of the first period, scoring on a wrist shot after a cross-ice pass from Hischier to finish a 2-on-1 break. Zetterlund has three points in three games since his recall from Utica.
“It was a really good pass from Nico,” Zetterlund said. It was an amazing feeling when I saw it go in. And my whole family (in Sweden) watched it, too, so I’m really happy.”
Arizona’s Phil Kessel hit the post with four minutes left in the first period, and Daws made two point-blank saves seconds apart on a Coyotes power play to keep the game tied.
Coyotes goalie Karel Vejmelka made a sprawling save to deny Jesper Bratt on a power play early in the second period before Bahl made it 2-1 at 5:24 with a slap shot from the right point through traffic off a clever pass from Nathan Bastian.
“Bass made a great play off the wall,” Bahl said. “I’m probably not going to get that type of shot off if he doesn’t throw it off the wall like that. It felt great.”
Coyotes defenseman Kyle Capobianco hit the post midway through the second period.
Schmaltz tied the game at 2 with a power-play goal at 18:36, moments after taking a hard hit from Ty Smith but returning to skate in alone on the right side.
“Momentum right there can go either way,” Ruff said. “They can gain momentum by having a good shift. We countered right away. We got a little fortunate there, but instead of going behind the net, Tatar went to the front, and we threw a puck quickly to the front.”
Tatar scored on a pass from Bratt at 19:14 after Vejmelka misplayed the puck behind the net. Boqvist then swatted in a rebound 22 seconds later to make it 4-2, after Vejmelka stopped Janne Kuokkanen’s high wrist shot but couldn’t control the rebound.
Sharangovich added two goals in the final 4:24 to end the scoring.
“I wanted a little bit more from our older guys, personally,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “I want them more engaged, and I want them to push a little bit more. I think our young guys need role models and leadership. I felt our team worked hard but wanted more push.”
Game Notes
Coyotes forwards Nathan Smith and Jack McBain made their NHL debuts, with Smith centering the third line and McBain the fourth. “It is a dream come true,” said McBain, who played this season at Boston College. “It was an unfortunate result, but a game I will surely remember.” The two were acquired in separate deals on March 21, McBain from Minnesota for a second-round pick in the 2022 draft and Smith from Winnipeg with Bryan Little for a fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft. A total of 10 Coyotes have made their NHL debuts this season, a franchise record. Coyotes D J.J. Moser returned after missing 12 games with an upper-body injury. D Jakob Chychrun (lower body), F Lawson Crouse (upper body), F Christian Fischer (lower body), and F Antoine Roussel (lower body) were out. Vejmelka’s 45 games are the second-most in franchise history for rookie goaltenders. Eldon Reddick played 48 in 1986-87 when the franchise was in Winnipeg.
UP NEXT
- Devils: Play at Colorado on Thursday, the third stop on a five-game road trip.
- Coyotes: Visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
