DESERT DELIGHT
Red-hot Devils skate past Coyotes in overtime
TEMPE, Ariz. — Nico Hischier scored 23 seconds into overtime to give the Devils a 5-4 victory over the Coyotes on Sunday night.
Jesper Boqvist scored twice, Timo Meier scored a goal in his Devils debut and Damon Severson notched a goal and an assist. Dougie Hamilton and Erik Haula each picked up two assists, and
Vitek Vanecek stopped 22 shots as the Devils extended their point streak to five games (4-0-1) and stayed two points behind first-place Carolina in the Metropolitan Division.
Jack McBain recorded a goal and an assist, and Nick Schmaltz, Zack Kassian and Matias Maccelli also scored for the Coyotes. Juuso Valimaki assisted on two goals and Connor Ingram finished with 35 saves.
In the extra period, Hischier scored on a drive from the right side to beat Ingram after the Coyotes had rallied to tie the score on McBain’s goal with 2 minutes left in regulation.
Meier, acquired from San Jose in a blockbuster trade that involved nine players and four draft picks last Sunday, backhanded a rebound past Ingram at 9:09 of the first period. It was his 32nd goal of the season.
Maccelli tied it 1:10 later on a pass from Victor Soderstrom for his fifth goal.
The Devils regained the lead with 1:42 left in the opening period when Boqvist scored his first of the night.
The Coyotes outshot the Devils, 15-12, in the period and had several chances to score, the best being when Valimaki hit the right post on the only power play of the period.
Severson, who assisted on Boqvist’s goal, scored from the point on the Devils’ first power play at 4:44 of the second to push the lead to 3-1.
Kassian scored his second goal of the season from the slot with 3:37 left in the middle period to get the Coyotes within one.
Boqvist scored his second of the game and seventh of the season with 41 seconds left in the second after Ondrej Palat was able to keep the puck in the zone to restore the Devils’ two-goal lead.
Schmaltz pulled the Coyotes to 4-3 with his 19th at 1:29 of the third, and McBain tied it up from the slot with his ninth of the season with two minutes left.