Devils at Coyotes
The reeling New Jersey Devils are on the verge of matching an unwanted franchise record when they wrap up a three-game road trip with a visit to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night. The Devils have dropped nine consecutive games (0-7-2) and one more defeat will equal the longest in team annals, first set in 1983 and tied in 2013.
New Jersey has not won since a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Feb. 18, which left the Devils two points behind their neighboring rivals. Three weeks later, the Devils are 13 points behind the Islanders, who are clinging to the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Arizona stumbled through a nine-game skid of its own from mid-December to early January, but is playing at a .500 level over the past seven weeks (10-9-2). The Coyotes have been dominated by New Jersey of late, losing five straight meetings, including a 5-3 setback on Oct. 25.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, MSG (New Jersey), FSN Arizona-Plus, NHL.TV
ABOUT THE DEVILS (25-30-12): Leading scorer Taylor Hall halted a pair of droughts in Thursday's 3-2 loss at Colorado, notching his first goal in eight games and ending his team's shutout streak at 174 minutes, 51 seconds. Captain Andy Greene, who missed last four games after leaving the team following the death of his father, practiced Friday and will be in the lineup versus Arizona. However, No. 1 center Travis Zajac left the team Friday to be with his wife for the birth of their third child.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (23-35-8): Mike Smith is mired in a five-game slide (0-4-1), but has turned aside 61 of 66 shots in his last two starts after allowing 16 goals in his previous three appearances. “I’m out of the funk,” Smith said. There’s going to be games where it’s not going to go your way but for the most part, I’ve tried to limit those this year. I want to finish that way.” Rookies Brendan Perlini and Lawson Crouse ended goal droughts of nine and 11 games, respectively, versus Ottawa.
OVERTIME
1. Hall has 10 goals and 23 points in 23 goals against the Coyotes.
2. Arizona is 3-for-39 over the power play over the past 13 games.
3. The Devils have failed to score on all 10 chances with the man advantage in five games this month.