The Devils were unable to make up ground in the playoff race, falling to the Coyotes, 4-1.

The New Jersey Devils could not overcome their slow start and fell to the Arizona Coyotes, 4-1, at Mullett Arena on Saturday evening.

For the 49th time this season, the Devils gave up the game's opening goal. Coyotes defenseman J.J. Moser scored his fifth of the season. His defensive partner Sean Durzi picked up an assist along with center Nick Schmaltz. The latter extended his point streak against New Jersey to four games.

With under six minutes remaining in the first period, the Coyotes extended their lead to 2-0 on the man advantage. Youngster Dylan Guenther potted his sixth power-play goal of the season. Clayton Keller celebrated his 400th career NHL point after earning an assist on Guenther's goal. Schmaltz earned his second assist of the evening.

A Nick DeSimone giveaway gave Arizona a 3-0 lead with two minutes remaining. Logan Cooley cashed in against the team he earned his first career NHL point against in October. It was the rookie's 13th goal of the season.

After 20 minutes, each team was credited with 15 shots, but the home team held a 3-0 lead on the scoreboard.

The Devils' coaching staff made a goaltending change, replacing Kaapo Kahkonen with Nico Daws to start the middle frame.

Seven minutes into the second period, DeSimone redeemed himself. He scored his first goal as a Devil after receiving a pass from Curtis Lazar. Jack Hughes was credited with the secondary assist.

Lazar's helper was his 21st point of the season, marking a career-high for the 29-year-old.

After 40 minutes, the Devils were down two goals despite a 26-23 shot advantage.

In the early minutes of the third period, Kurtis MacDermid and Josh Brown dropped the gloves after the Devils winger hit Keller along the boards. MacDermid bested his opponent, and each of them sat for five minutes.

With 1:31 remaining in regulation and the Devils' goaltender pulled, Keller hit the empty net to extend the Coyotes lead to 4-1. Schmaltz collected his third assist of the evening.

The Devils outshot Arizona 13-9 in the third period but could not get the puck past opposing goaltender Karel Vejmelka, who finished the game with a .974 save percentage.

With today's 4-1 victory, the Coyotes won the season series against the Devils (2-0-0) for the first time in ten years.

UP NEXT: The Devils will play the Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday, March 17.

LINES:

Jack Hughes - Nico Hischier - Dawson Mercer

Timo Meier - Erik Haula - Jesper Bratt

Ondrej Palat - Tomas Nosek - Curtis Lazar

Kurtis MacDermid - Chris Tierney - Alexander Holtz

Luke Hughes - Simon Nemec

Santeri Hatakka - Brendan Smith

Kevin Bahl - Nick DeSimone

Kaapo Kahkonen

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