In Glendale, Saturday, Mike Smith made 26 saves including a stop on a penalty shot with less than three minutes left in regulation to help the Arizona Coyotes defeat the New Jersey Devils, 5-4.
Mike Smith made 26 saves to hand Devils 10th straight loss – file photo by Brianna O’Mara
Smith stopped Taylor Hall on the penalty shot.
“I don’t know what the move is. But I’ve played against him for quite a few years now,” Smith said. “You just try to be patient and wait for him to make the first move.
“We didn’t totally blow it … but a little hectic, a little bit closer that it needed to be.”
The loss was the 10th straight for the Devils who are 0-8-2 in that span.
Arizona got goals from Anthony DeAngelo, Tobias Rieder. Jakob Chychrun, Radim Vrbata, Brendan Perlini.
“In the second and third period, we sat back and got too comfortable with the lead. We knew their coaching staff was probably a little mad at them, so we knew they’d come out flying, and that’s what they did,” Rieder said.
The pushed the Coyotes record to 24-35-8 and snapped a three-game losing skid.
The Devils offense came from Kyle Palmieri who struck twice, and Beau Bennett and John Moore.
The loss dropped the Devils 25-31-12.
“We had a couple of breakdowns, but we gathered ourselves a little bit better after that,” Devils head coach John Hynes said. “Unfortunately, we were one short.”
WATCH: All Devils vs. Coyotes highlights
Cory Schneider got the start for the Devils but yielded four goals on just 10 shots and was given the hook early in the second period with the Coyotes up 4-0.
Keith Kinkaid made 20 saves in relief of Schneider.
“We’ve got a good group of guys in here. I think we stick together pretty well. That has to continue no matter what the situation is. Our push-back, our togetherness after they went up was great,” Hall said after the loss.
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