Lawson Crouse netted a goal and an assist, while Karel Vejmelka stopped 35 shots to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.
Dysin Mayo, Travis Boyd, and Johan Larsson also scored for Arizona, which has won three of its last five games. Loui Eriksson contributed two assists.
“We knew we had a lot of players with something to prove coming into training camp,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “Players who wanted to bounce back or establish themselves.”
Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 13 of 17 shots for the Devils, and Nico Hischier scored the lone goal for New Jersey, which has dropped four of its last five.
This was the first meeting between the Eastern and Western Conference teams since Dec. 14, 2019, which the Devils won 2-1, and the first at the Prudential Center since Oct. 25, 2019, a 5-3 victory for the Coyotes.
New Jersey had a promising start with Hischier’s power-play goal 6:09 into the game, set up by Jesper Bratt after Jack Hughes created an initial scoring chance.
Hischier’s eighth goal of the season was one of 12 shots the Devils fired in the first period, while Arizona managed only one shot on goal.
“We did a lot of good stuff,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “We came out strong but couldn’t sustain it.”
Arizona equalized at 6:50 of the second period with Mayo’s third goal of the season. Just under five minutes later, Crouse put the Coyotes ahead with his 10th goal.
Boyd extended Arizona’s lead to 3-1 by deflecting Clayton Keller’s shot past Blackwood at 14:13.
“We had more urgency and skated better in the second,” Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun said.
Larsson sealed the win with a goal 8:27 into the third, set up by Crouse.
“They’re good on the rush but don’t sustain much offensive zone time,” Chychrun added. “We focused on quick defense and possession.”
The Devils outplayed the Coyotes for much of the game, outshooting them 36-17 and outattempting them 66-43. New Jersey also converted one of two power plays and killed both Coyotes’ power plays.
“It’s on us,” New Jersey defenseman Ryan Graves said. “We didn’t manage the game well.”
SCHEDULE CHANGES
The NHL announced schedule revisions to conclude the regular season by April 29. The Devils had eight games rescheduled, while the Coyotes had six.
The Devils will visit Toronto on Jan. 31, Ottawa on Feb. 7, Montreal on Feb. 8, St. Louis on Feb. 10, and Pittsburgh on Feb. 24. They will host Pittsburgh on Feb. 13, Tampa Bay on Feb. 15, and Montreal on April 7.
Arizona will travel to Vancouver on Feb. 8 and Seattle on Feb. 9. The Coyotes will host Tampa Bay on Feb. 11, Los Angeles on Feb. 19, Dallas on Feb. 20, and Seattle on March 22.
ROSTER MOVES
The Devils and Coyotes benefited from Blackwood’s and Chychrun’s return. Blackwood made his first start since Jan. 8 after clearing the COVID-19 protocol, while Chychrun returned after missing 11 games due to an upper-body injury and time in protocol.
UP NEXT
- Coyotes: Visit the New York Islanders on Friday.
- Devils: Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
