NEWARK, N.J. _ Taylor Hall did his part. But the Devils still wound up nearly blowing a game they should have put away.
The Coyotes, who have lost the first four games of their six-game road trip, got two third-period goals from their young superstar, defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson before Travis Zajac's late power-play goal and then his empty-netter provided a 5-3 win on Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
So the Devils (3-2-1) have their first winning streak of the season as they exceeded two goals in a game for the first time. Zajac's winner came at 17:59 off Hall's assist.
Hall, showing a strong chemistry with rookie center Pavel Zacha, played at a different speed from the opening faceoff and had his second two-goal performance in three home games.
The Devils, perfect so far at The Rock, conclude this four-game homestand with back-to-back games against the Blackhawks and Lightning, on Friday and Saturday.
Hall, whose career high in six seasons with the Oilers was 27 goals _ twice _ now has five goals in six games.
"Anytime you can add more skill, it makes everyone that much more dangerous," goalie Cory Schneider said. "Teams, hopefully, can't key on one or two guys."
Schneider made 28 saves, including several key ones in a sluggish first period for the Devils. Meanwhile, Justin Peters, making his first start for the Coyotes (1-5-0), who have lost the first five games of a six-game road trip and are without No. 1 goalie Mike Smith (lower-body injury), stopped 30 shots.
Hall's power-play goal to give the Devils a 2-1 lead showed off multiple aspects of his dynamic game. First was the burst of speed into the Coyotes' zone. Then came his stickwork as he batted the puck through the defense. And then came his poise as he re-collected the puck to beat Peters at 9:40 of the second period.
Zacha got his second assist of the game by setting up Hall's dash.
"He's shown he's been able to do a good job," coach John Hynes said of Zacha, playing in his seventh NHL game, including last season's finale. "He's shown when he's got energy and engaged in the game, it doesn't matter where he plays. We don't have to shelter him."
Then, the Devils cracked the two-goal barrier for the first time this season as the Coyotes, seemingly running out of energy in a second period in which they were outshot 17-6, mismanaged the puck and Reid Boucher took a swipe at a loose puck in the slot that went off Henrique's right skate for a 3-1 lead at 14:03.
For Henrique, who scored a career-high 30 goals last season, it was his first tally this season. Henrique missed about eight minutes of the first period after Boucher accidentally hit his teammate in the mouth with his stick at 3:02 as they crossed paths in the defensive zone.
The Coyotes pulled within 3-2 at 7:51 of the third period on Ekman-Larsson's rising slap shot through Martin Hanzal's screen from the top of the left circle. Ekman-Larsson then tied it at 3 at 13:13 on a power-play goal with Kyle Quincey off for interference on Jordan Martinook.
Hall had tied the game at 1 at 8:43 of the first period after Zacha won an offensive zone faceoff and drew it back to Hall in the right circle.
He might have had his second goal earlier but opted to pass the puck to Zacha cutting to the crease as Hall led an odd-man rush six minutes later. Zacha could not get off a shot.
The Coyotes had taken a 1-0 lead at 7:04 as Martinook popped in the rebound of Alex Goligoski's shot from the left point. But Schneider had to be crisp to keep the Coyotes from a bigger lead.
First, he stopped Jamie McGinn's slap shot at 4:08, then, he robbed Martin Hanzal from low in the slot at 8:16. Finally, he gloved Luke Schenn's blast with 1.6 seconds remaining as the Devils were outshot, 11-6, and, for a long stretch of the first period, seemed very flat.
