The pacific division-leading Arizona Coyotes faced the visiting New Jersey Devils on Saturday night at Gila River Arena.

The Devils were shorthanded once again as former MVP Taylor Hall watched from the sidelines, as the rumors continue to grow around the former MVP.

Hall sat out for precautionary reasons but watched as the Devils beat the Coyotes 2-1 snapping the Devils seven-game winless streak.                     

The first period saw an early goal from the Devils when winger Jesper Boqvist scored his third goal of the season in the second minute of the game’s opening period.

After the Devils’ fast start, the Coyotes caught a break after P.K Subban was called for a tripping penalty and the Coyotes took advantage.

On the power play, Alex Goligoski also scored his third of the season with a shot on the slot to tie the game at one apiece.

The second period featured less action and no goals.

A scoring opportunity opened up when the Devils went on the power play after Nick Schmaltz got called for slashing— the period ended with no goals but the Coyotes outshooting the Devils 23-20.

The final period saw another missed opportunity when the Coyotes went on the power play after Wayne Simmons was called for slashing.

Alex Goligoski was open on the backdoor and Nick Schmaltz got the puck to him, but Goligoski couldn’t get enough strength behind his shot to get the puck into the net.

Multiple missed opportunities would lead to the Devils taking advantage when Devils winger Kyle Palmieri scored the game-winning goal with 8:26 to go and a 2-1 Devils lead.

At the final horn, the Coyotes missed a home ice opportunity through sloppy play, lack of scoring and couldn’t secure points against a struggling New Jersey.

Head Coach, Rick Tocchet addressed the added pressure of being the favorite to win games.

“It’s not the old days where we’re chasing everybody, and you can surprise people. Now— people are going to be ready to play. We can’t afford to throw games away.,”

“We didn’t score— Jersey had that one chance and they scored on a breakdown. We need some guys to produce. We need to score that’s the bottom line we didn’t give up a lot of chances we just didn’t execute,” Tocchet said.

The Coyotes hope to bounce back on Tuesday when they hit the road for San Jose to face the Sharks.