Thursday, the Devils hung on through a hard-hitting, entertaining game to defeat the Red Wings 4–3. Jacob Markström made 32 saves and held strong in the third period as New Jersey snapped its three-game losing skid and improved to 8-0-1 at home.
Recap
First Period
It was a physical start at the Prudential Center, with multiple penalties in the opening five minutes. But at five-on-five, it was the Devils who struck first. Stefan Noesen fluttered a shot toward the net, and Timo Meier redirected it beautifully past Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot to give the Devils a 1–0 lead.
Detroit answered quickly. Future hall-of-famer Patrick Kane was given too much space on a three-on-two. His initial shot was stopped, but Alex DeBrincat crashed the net and buried the rebound—his 11th of the season—to tie the game.
With momentum swinging Detroit’s way, the Devils needed a spark, and their captain delivered. A crisp passing play between Meier and Bratt set up Nico Hischier, who snapped a wrist shot past Talbot. The captain, now with three goals in his last two games, made it 2–1 Devils.
New Jersey wasn’t done. With under a minute left, Luke Hughes fired a rocket toward the net, and Cody Glass,playing his first game back from injury, deflected it in. The second-year Devil added a key insurance goal to cap off a wild opening frame.
Second Period
The rapid scoring continued early in the second, as the Red Wings capitalized on a Dougie Hamilton penalty. Markström made the initial stop, but once again a rebound sat loose, and James van Riemsdyk cleaned it up.
Detroit seized all the momentum, and the Devils looked shaky. But Markström came up big with several key saves, and when New Jersey finally got an opportunity, they made it count. Dawson Mercer forced a turnover behind the net, and with Talbot out of position, Connor Brown slipped one past him to restore the two-goal lead.
Despite getting outshot 15–6 in the period, the Devils entered the third still leading by two.
Third Period
New Jersey opened the final frame strong and looked poised to cruise to a comfortable win. But Detroit refused to go away. Another rebound kicked loose from Markström, and Lucas Raymond fed Dylan Larkin for an easy tap-in. The Red Wings captain’s 13th of the season cut the lead to one.
Larkin’s goal shifted momentum quickly. Detroit dominated the final nine minutes and peppered Markström with high-danger chances. The veteran goalie, who has struggled this season, rose to the moment and kept the Devils in front.
The final 10 seconds were pure chaos. Markström robbed Lucas Raymond one last time, and a post-whistle scrum erupted as tensions boiled over after multiple cheap shots throughout the game. Nearly everyone on the ice, including Markström, got involved as the Devils celebrated the win.
Game Notes
Complematary hockey
With Jack Hughes out the Devils have needed the remaining members of the core four to deliver and tonight they’ve done just that. Bratt, Meier and Hichier have combined for six goals and nine assists in the five games since Hughes injury including four goals in the past four games for Hischier.
Timo Meier as well has had a tendency of playing well in the absence of Hughes. Since joining the Devils in 39 games without Hughes, Meier has scored 18 goals. The 0.46 goals per game (GPG) without the Devils star sits significantly better than the 0.33 GPG Timo has with Hughes.
Devils Continue Home Dominance
After a rough road trip the Devils returned to their favorite place on Monday to pick up a huge win. The Devils have now picked up points in each of their first nine home games and possess an 8-0-1 record at the Prudential Center.
With an underwhelming 6-7-0 record on the road this season the Devils are going to need to keep dominating at home to stay in contention. This trend is somewhat unusual for a Devils team that has won more games on the road than at home in each of the last three seasons. However, if this trend keeps up New Jersey will be a very hard team to stop down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Next Game
The Devils will stay at home as they take on the Blues Wednesday at 7:00 pm ET.