Palmieri, Devils beat Coyotes 2-1 to end 7-game skid
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Kyle Palmieri scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period, and the New Jersey Devils held on for a 2-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night, ending a seven-game losing streak.
Jesper Boqvist also scored, and Michael McLeod and Miles Wood each had two assists to help the Devils get their first win this month. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 31 shots.
Alex Goligoski scored for Arizona, which has lost five of its last seven home games but remains in sole possession of first place in the Pacific Division. Vinnie Hinostroza picked up his fourth assist in two games, and Darcy Kuemper finished with 31 saves.
Palmieri’s team-leading 12th goal of the season came with 8:26 left in the third period as he flipped the puck high into net past Kuemper.
The Devils played without Taylor Hall for the second straight game amid trade talks — with the Coyotes mentioned as one of the teams interested in acquiring the forward.
New Jersey scored first 2:17 into the game. Boqvist was in front to re-direct a rebound of a shot from McLeod for his third of the season.
Goligoski’s first goal in nine games came on the power play with 4:25 left in the first period. Goligoski brought the puck out of his own end, then took a pass from Hinostroza and sent a wrister past Blackwood to tie the score.
The Coyotes have seven power-play goals in the past seven games.
The Devils opened the second period on a power play after a high-sticking penalty to Goligoski just before the end of the first. Arizona killed the penalty and one other later in the period, thwarting the Devils’ man advantage three times on the night.
Blackwood turned away Conor Garland’s wide-open wrister at 5:55, keeping the score tied in the second period.
NOTES: F Brayden Burke, called up from AHL Tucson on Friday, was one of the Coyotes’ scratches. … D Oliver Ekman-Larsson passed Doug Smail for the fifth-most games played in franchise history, 691. … The Devils placed G Louis Domingue, who suffered a lower-body injury Friday at Colorado, on injured reserve. G Evan Cormier was called up from Adirondack of the ECHL.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host Anaheim on Wednesday night.
Coyotes: At San Jose on Tuesday night.
