Karel Vejmelka made 37 saves as the Arizona Coyotes secured a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, powered by a three-goal first period.
J.J. Moser, Dylan Guenther, Logan Cooley, and Clayton Keller scored for the Coyotes, with Nick Schmaltz assisting on three goals. Keller also assisted on Guenther’s goal, reaching 400 career points, joining Shane Doan as the only player to achieve this milestone in the franchise’s 28 years in Arizona.
“We aimed to start strong, and (Vejmelka) was outstanding tonight,” Keller said. “They had the momentum, but he made some critical saves.”
Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny emphasized the importance of a fast start before the game.
“We discussed our game management,” he said. “The last three times we returned from a long road trip, our first period wasn’t great. We challenged our guys on that, and they responded well.”
Nick DeSimone scored for New Jersey, which has lost six of its last eight games and missed another opportunity to gain ground in the playoff race. The Devils were four points out of the final wild-card spot in the East entering Saturday.
Moser opened the scoring at 9:37 with a wrist shot between the circles. Guenther’s power-play goal, his 10th of the season, followed after Tomas Nosek was called for tripping. Guenther’s shot beat Kaapo Kahkonen high on the stick side at 14:02.
A turnover by DeSimone in front of the Devils’ net led to another Arizona goal. Lawson Crouse stole the puck and fed Cooley for a one-timer past Kahkonen.
“Those 10 minutes cost us,” DeSimone said of the latter half of the first period. “It’s disappointing that we put Kaapo in that spot, myself included.”
Devils coach Travis Green made a goaltender change after the first period, bringing in Nico Daws, who shut out Arizona for the rest of the game. In the third period, Keller added an empty-net goal, his team-leading 27th.
Kahkonen made 12 saves, and Daws stopped 16.
DeSimone scored seven minutes into the second period.
“We defend really hard, block a lot of shots, and battle in front of the net,” Tourigny said. “When you take that kind of a lead, the other team has nothing to lose, and they come at you with everything they’ve got.”
The Coyotes played most of the game without center Nick Bjugstad, who left in the first period with an undisclosed injury.
New Jersey’s Kurtis MacDermid and Arizona’s Josh Brown fought early in the third period, each receiving five-minute penalties for fighting.
Devils’ defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler remains out with a concussion sustained from an elbow to the head by the Rangers’ Matt Rempe last week. Rempe was given a game misconduct and is serving a four-game suspension.
UP NEXT
- New Jersey: Visit Vegas on Sunday.
- Arizona: Visit Dallas on Wednesday night.
