ARIZONA COYOTES

Controversial call, soft goal drop Coyotes to 0-5 on road trip

Oct 25, 2016, 8:16 PM | Updated: Oct 26, 2016, 11:29 am

New Jersey Devils center Adam Henrique (14) knocks the puck past Arizona Coyotes goalie Justin Pete...

New Jersey Devils center Adam Henrique (14) knocks the puck past Arizona Coyotes goalie Justin Peters (40) for a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2016, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

NEWARK, N.J. — Soft third-period goals have plagued the Coyotes on this six-game road trip. Third-string goaltender Justin Peters took his turn in the white-hot spotlight on Tuesday in New Jersey.

Travis Zajac beat Peters though the five-hole from the top of the right circle with 2:01 remaining in regulation and New Jersey spoiled the Coyotes’ two-goal rally to post a 5-3 win at Prudential Center. Zajac’s goal came on a controversial power play after Connor Murphy was whistled for high-sticking on the same play where Martin Hanzal took a Zajac stick to the face that drew no call.

“It was a terrible call,” coach Dave Tippett said. “If they’re going to call Murphy for cross-checking (actually high-sticking) when he had one hand on the stick, then they probably should have called the two-hander to Hanzal’s face. I just can’t even believe that happened at that point of the game.”

New Jersey cashed in quickly when Peters (30 saves) failed to squeeze his pads in an otherwise respectable performance in his first start as a Coyote. Zajac added an empty-netter with 14 seconds left after the puck caromed off the linesman as New Jersey tried to ice the puck.

“It’s a save I’ve got to come up with,” Peters said. “It was a crucial time in the game, obviously — penalty kill, last couple minutes of the game. Unfortunately, there’s such a fine line between winning and losing. I’ve got to make that save.”

It was the third time in the last three games of this 0-5 road trip where a soft third-period goal spelled the difference. Louis Domingue was the culprit in losses to the New York Islanders and Rangers when he allowed point shots from Johnny Boychuk and Dan Girardi to slip through.

Tippett said he was going to learn a lot about his young team on this six-game road trip. His young team is learning a lot about what it takes to win in the NHL.

For the third game the trip, Arizona scored first when Jordan Martinook whacked in a rebound of Alex Goligoski’s shot from the point just 7:04 into the first period, but for the fifth time on this five-game-old trip, the Coyotes went down to defeat.

Taylor Hall scored a pair of goals — one through a screen and one on a defensive miscue — and Adam Henrique scored on a deflection as the Devils took a 3-1 lead to the third period.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson drew the Coyotes within one when he blew a shot past Cory Schneider through a Hanzal screen at 7:51 of the third period for his third goal of the season. He tied the game on another point shot with 6:07 remaining in regulation, but the Coyotes could not hold on.

“We came out and played really hard, played really good in the first period,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We’ve got to play like that for 60 minutes.”

The loss dropped the Coyotes to 1-5 with two points, which represents the worst six-game start in Jets/Coyotes franchise history. This five-game losing streak also is the longest since the team dropped seven in a row from Feb. 20 to March 3 last season.

“You’re looking to sustain things and that goes all the way through from your goaltender out to your special teams to your 5-on-5 play,” Tippett said. “We have good runs in the game where we’re doing what we’re capable of doing and then we have times where we don’t execute very well.”

Just as they did in New York against the Rangers on Sunday, the Coyotes came out flying and Martinook scored his third goal of the season — tied a for the team lead — on yet another hustle play.

But Hanzal lost a defensive faceoff less than two minutes later and Pavel Zacha slipped the draw back to Hall, who ripped a shot over Peters’ glove hand through a mass of bodies.

Midway through the first period, Hall took a backhand feed from Zacha just inside the blue line and chipped the puck past Schenn, who should have played the body. Instead, Hall raced past him and flipped the puck over Peters for a 2-1 lead at 9:40. Henrique’s goal gave the Devils a two-goal cushion as they headed to the second intermission.

Coyotes left wing Jamie McGinn made his debut and had a great scoring chance early off the rush, but Schneider moved post to post to rob him.

“I got a lot on that one,” McGinn said. “It was a great save by Schneids. That would have been huge for myself and the team to get on the board right away with that one.”

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Controversial call, soft goal drop Coyotes to 0-5 on road trip