GLENDALE, Ariz. _ There are games that can't be explained away as anything but troubling.
And that's exactly what the Devils' 5-0 loss to the Western Conference-worst Coyotes and their former goaltender Scott Wedgewood was on Saturday night at Gila River Arena.
Troubling because the Devils, playing on back-to-back nights after a 2-1 win at Colorado on Friday night to open this three-game road trip, were warned against exactly this type of performance. Yet they suffered their first five-goal loss of the season, yielded a goal in the first minute and were shut out for the third time this season.
The Devils (15-7-4), lethargic in the first period and outshot, 9-3, in the third, fell to 9-3-2 on the road with a key home-and-home series coming up against their Metropolitan Division rival Blue Jackets.
The Coyotes (7-18-4) won at home for the first time in regulation this season as Wedgewood, acquired from the Devils for a fifth-round pick on Oct. 28, made 26 saves for his second career shutout. His last came for the Devils against the Penguins on March 24, 2016.
Keith Kinkaid stopped 22 shots for the Devils.
The game marked the second in the Devils' lineup for defenseman Sami Vatanen, acquired from the Ducks on Thursday for Adam Henrique, and for left wing Marcus Johansson, who returned on Friday after a 13-game absence because of a concussion.
Yet nothing sparked the Devils' offense as the Coyotes _ save for two spectacular saves by Wedgewood _ limited most of the shots to the outside and kept the Devils from establishing any traffic at the crease.
Kinkaid allowed a goal in the first minute of the game for the third straight start as defenseman Jason Demers beat him from the right circle with Brendan Perlini providing a screen just 34 seconds into the first period.
The Devils also allowed a goal with 24.3 seconds left in the first period as defenseman John Moore could not clear the puck at his skates under pressure from Derek Stepan and Tobias Rieder deep in the Devils' zone and Stepan got to the crease to beat Kinkaid.
Seven days earlier, the Red Wings' David Booth scored the first of his two goals also 34 seconds into the Devils' 4-3 overtime win at Detroit. And the Blackhawks' Artem Anisimov connected just 41 seconds into the Devils' 7-5 win at Chicago on Nov. 12.
But the more disturbing trend was another step-slow, lack-of-compete first period, similar to the Devils' being outshot 16-3 over the first 20 minutes of Monday's 3-2 loss to the visiting Panthers.
Especially since this was exactly what Devils coach John Hynes warned his team to avoid in what he termed a "stern" pre-game meeting make sure the players were "ready to go."
The Devils beat the visiting Coyotes, 4-3, on Oct. 28 on the strength of third-period, power-play goals from Taylor Hall and rookie Jesper Bratt.
"We were good on the power play but I thought they were the better team," Hynes said of the teams' first meeting. "We've made them aware. Those stats are up in the locker room."
Wedgewood made two of his better saves in the second period. First, Wedgewood went into a split to stop Drew Stafford's backhander at the left post at 1:50. Then, at 12:04, he again showed his flexibility sliding to his right to get his toe on Stefan Noesen's close-range one-timer after a cross-ice feed from Brian Gibbons.
Kevin Connauton's shot from the right point then dribbled in after it hit Jordan Martinook in front for a 3-0 lead at 17:08 of the second period, the only goal of a period in which the Devils held a 14-4 shot advantage.
Alex Goligoski, at 12:05 of the third period, and Dylan Strome, with his first NHL goal at 13:36, closed the scoring.
