Devils edge Coyotes on late goal

NEWARK, N.J.-- Taylor Hall and Travis Zajac each scored two goals to help the New Jersey Devils to a 5-3 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Prudential Center on Tuesday.
Zajac scored a power-play goal with 2:01 remaining in the third period on a low wrist shot from the right circle to give the Devils a 4-3 lead. He then scored an empty-net goal with 14 seconds left.

"If you can score some timely goals on the power play and kill some timely penalties you can win a lot of games," Zajac said.
The Devils (3-2-1) finished 2-for-3 on the power play. The Coyotes finished 1-for-3.
Hall had two goals and an assist, Adam Henrique scored, Pavel Zacha had two assists, and Cory Schneider made 28 saves for the Devils, who won their second straight game.
The win was the third straight at home for the Devils. The last time New Jersey began the season with three straight home wins was 2002-03.
"We want to establish that this is our home rink and teams coming in here will have a tough night," Zajac said. "Win or lose, they'll have to work for everything."
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two goals, Jordan Martinook scored, and Justin Peters, who was making his first start of the season, made 30 saves for the Coyotes (1-5-0). Arizona, playing the fifth of a six-game Eastern Conference road trip, has lost five straight after a season-opening 4-3 home victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 15.

"We need more saves to stabilize our group and we need sustained ability to stay with the game for longer periods of time," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "If we do that we'll be fine."
Ekman-Larsson scored his third of the season 7:51 into the third period off a slap shot from the top of the left circle to pull the Coyotes within 3-2. He tied the game on a power-play goal off a wrist shot from the point at 13:53. The power-play goal was the first for the Coyotes in 10 chances the past four games.
The Devils scored three unanswered goals after Martinook gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead 7:04 into the first period.

Hall scored to tie it 1-1 at 8:43 of the first off a faceoff win by Zacha in the right circle. Hall gave the Devils a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal off a pass from Zacha 9:40 into the second period.
Henrique extended the lead to 3-1 in the second when he deflected a shot by Reid Boucher past Peters inside the left post at 14:03.

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Goal of the game

After Hall collected a pass from Zacha over the blue line, he chipped the puck past defenseman Luke Schenn in the left circle before lifting a shot over the right arm of Peters for his second goal of the game.

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Save of the game

With the Coyotes holding a 1-0 lead, Schneider made a left-pad save against Martin Hanzal on an uncontested snap shot from the slot 8:13 into the first period. Hall tied the game 30 seconds later.

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Highlight of the game

Ekman-Larsson scored off a slap shot from the top of the left circle for his first goal of the game. Hanzal provided the perfect screen in front of Schneider.

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Unsung moment of the game

Zacha had a big faceoff win that led to Hall's fourth goal of the season. He beat Hanzal in the right circle before using his left skate to kick the puck over to Hall in the right circle.

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They said it

"If you look at the execution, there was a puck Anthony Duclair had in the neutral zone that should've got in, didn't get in and we ended up spending about six minutes in our end. We couldn't win a faceoff and momentum turns. In the second period, they came out and played better; we let them do it. Shame on us." -- Coyotes coach Dave Tippett
"[Zacha] is a great young player; he's big and strong and very capable for a player of his age. You usually don't see that. It usually takes a lot of time to get faceoffs down and be a guy who is relied on there so it's been fun playing with him. There's a lot of good players to play with here." -- Devils left wing Taylor Hall

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Need to know

Hall had 13 multi-goal games in six seasons with the Edmonton Oilers. He now has two in six games with the Devils. … Coyotes left wing Jamie McGinn made his season debut after missing the first five games because of an upper-body injury and had one assist, one hit and three blocked shots in 14:22.

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What's next

Coyotes: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CSN-PH, FS-A, NHL.TV).
Devils: Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; MSG+, WGN, NHL.TV).