Devils Hand Coyotes A Doughnut

March 29, 1998 / 12:53 AM EST / CBS/AP

Jason Arnott and Denis Pederson scored for New Jersey, and Martin Brodeur made the goals stand up with 26 saves for a 3-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.

Lyle Odelein added an empty-net goal with 10.9 seconds to play.

Brodeur, who has lost just once in his last 17 games, recorded his second straight shutout, 10th of the season and 32nd of his career. At 42-12-7, he became the 11th goaltender in NHL history to win 42 games in a season and left himself five wins from tying the league record of 47 set by Bernie Parent in 1973-1974.

Arnott scored on a second-period power play, and Pederson added an insurance goal 3:57 into the third period to send New Jersey to its fourth win in a row and fifth in the last six games. The Devils, who lead the league in points, are 14-2-4 in their last 20 games and gaining strength as the playoffs near.

Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 21 of the 23 shots he faced, but the Coyotes couldn't solve New Jersey's neutral-zone trap or Brodeur.

The Devils, fifth-best in the NHL at penalty-killing, killed five Phoenix power plays, including one in the second period when the Coyotes put six shots on net.

Phoenix outshot New Jersey 9-7 in the first period, and stopped the Devils on their first two power plays. But it took just 37 seconds of their third power play for the NHL's third-best power-play unit to score.

Bobby Holik shouldered his way along the boards, pushing the puck to the red line, then flicked a pass to Patrick Elias. Khabibulin stopped his shot, but it went out the other side of the crease, and Arnott tucked it into the corner on Khabibulin's glove side.

In the third, Pederson was successful on a wraparound. He picked up the puck behind the net, skated right and fired a shot at the edge of the crease. It bounced off Khabibulin's stick, and Pederson batted the rebound past the goalie's shoulder.

The Coyotes put on intense pressure in the first period. Barely a minute into the game, Jeremy Roenick put Odelein head-first into the boards.

Minutes later, Brodeur raked his stick across Roenick's face as Roenick skated through the crease, and he later stopped Roenick from point-blank range on a shorthanded breakaway with 5:51 left in the period.