Meier scores in debut, Devils recover for OT victory against Coyotes

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Timo Meier scored in his debut for the New Jersey Devils, who recovered for a 5-4 overtime win against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena on Sunday.

Meier, who was acquired from the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 26, finished with three shots, three hits and one block in 15:57 of ice time in his first game since Feb. 18 because of an upper-body injury.
"It's not easy for him to come in here. [It's a] different system and he's been out a couple of games, but he did really well," Devils forward Nico Hischier said. "I mean, he scored a goal. That's exactly what he does, so it's good to see him having the New Jersey jersey on."
Hischier won it 23 seconds into overtime when he skated down the right side on a 2-on-1 and elected to shoot blocker side on Connor Ingram. His goal came after Arizona scored twice in the third period to tie the game.
"It wasn't pretty but we got it done," Meier said.

Jesper Boqvist had his first multigoal NHL game, Damon Severson had a goal and an assist, and Vitek Vanecek made 25 saves for the Devils (41-15-6), who extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1). Dawson Mercer had an assist to extend his point streak to nine games (10 goals, six assists) but had his goal streak end at eight.
New Jersey is two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Metropolitan Division.
"We mismanaged the puck a couple of times and missed a lot of great opportunities to lengthen the lead and let [Arizona] hang around," Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. "But we've been a good overtime team (10-3) and we found a way to get the two points."
Jack McBain had a goal and an assist, and Juuso Valimaki had two assists for the Coyotes (21-32-10), who have lost three straight and five of six (1-4-1). Ingram made 35 saves.
"We started the first period not right," Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. "The second period, we didn't play well. We didn't fight the way we can fight, we didn't play fast the way we can. It was not our team. ... In the third it was. We played fast, we played with pace, we were in their face. ... We played a good team. They made plays."

Nick Schmaltz cut it to 4-3 at 1:29 of the third period with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass by Clayton Keller.
McBain tied it 4-4 at 18:00 when he kicked the puck to his stick and scored past a diving Vanecek.
"Our game wasn't how we wanted to play. It was a tough, tough game at first," McBain said. "But we bounced back and it's unfortunate we didn't get the results we wanted."
Meier gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead at 9:09 of the first period, collecting a rebound in front and scoring five-hole with his backhand.
"[I had] a lot of energy to go out there and play," Meier said. "I haven't played in a bit so I tried to keep it simple. The puck just followed me in front off the rebound and, yeah, it's obviously a great way to start."
Matias Maccelli tied it 1-1 at 10:19 when he cut through the slot and scored with a one-timer off a pass from McBain.
Boqvist responded for New Jersey to make it 2-1 at 18:18, scoring with a backhand after receiving a cross-crease pass from Severson.
Severson then extended it to 3-1 on a power play at 4:44 of the second period. He scored with a wrist shot through traffic from above the right circle after receiving a back pass from Mercer.
Zack Kassian cut it to 3-2 at 16:23 when he stepped into a rebound in the right circle and scored with a slap shot. It was his second goal this season and first since Oct. 25 (38 games).
Boqvist pushed it to 4-2 at 19:19, scoring with a one-timer from the high slot off a centering pass from behind the net by Ondrej Palat.
"I've had a couple of chances to score here lately, so it was nice to put those in, for sure," Boqvist said.
NOTES:Vanecek is 10-0-1 in his past 11 starts on the road. His last loss on the road was Dec. 20 to the Carolina Hurricanes. … Devils defenseman Dougie Hamilton extended his point streak to five games (two goals, five assists). He has 18 multipoint games this season, passing Scott Stevens (1991-92, 1993-94) for the most by a defenseman in Devils/Colorado Rockies/Kansas City Scouts history. … Connor Mackey had one assist, one shot, four hits and one block in 13:33 of ice time in his Coyotes debut. He was acquired from the Calgary Flames on Friday. Brett Ritchie, who was also acquired in the trade, was a healthy scratch.