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Devils Score Two Shorthanded, Edge Red Wings 4-3

The Devils came out of the All-Star break having regrouped and rested, which was good considering they had dropped the two games leading into the break. To say tonight’s game at the Detroit Red Wings was a must-win would not be overstating things too much. With a win, they could leapfrog the Wings in the playoff standings and move back into the thick of things in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

There was some adversity, but the Devils overcame it and got a 4-3 win in their penultimate game at the Joe Louis Arena (New Jersey will be the visitors for the final regular season game played there this coming April).

The lineup was largely the same as the game versus Washington prior to the All-Star break with the exception of Cory Schneider starting over Keith Kinkaid in goal. Beau Bennett and Andy Greene were still out with injuries for the Devils. Greene could be back as soon as the weekend against either Calgary or Columbus. Dylan Larkin was back in the lineup for Detroit after missing some games due to injury. The scratches for New Jersey were Luke Gazdic, newly-recalled Seth Helgeson and Sergey Kalinin. Sitting for the Red Wings were Tomas Jurco, Alexey Marchenko and Ryan Sproul.

The goaltending matchup saw Cory Schneider go for the Devils. He made 27 saves on 30 Detroit shots. In for the Red Wings was Jared Coreau – at 6-foot 6-inches, the tallest goalie in the history of the Wings – he made 20 saves on 24 Devils shots. Cory was sharp for most of the night, making some big saves when needed. He also got some goal support tonight which helped him out in the long run as well.

The Devils came out flying as Kyle Palmieri hit the post right off the bat. They then scored just 1:28 into the contest, as Jacob Josefson had the puck pinned against the boards. Pavel Zacha took it from him and shot from a sharp angle. Stefan Noesen gathered the rebound and was able to get to his backhand, beating Coreau to make it 1-0 Devils. It was Noesen’s second goal in his first two games as a Devil, a feat which Devante Smith-Pelly had also achieved last season when he was acquired from Montreal at the trade deadline.

The Devils’ second goal was set up when Zacha was called for tripping Justin Abdelkader, putting Detroit on the power play at 5:09. New Jersey would then double their lead at the 6:21 mark of the first period when Palmieri stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated it in to the Red Wings’ zone. He made a nifty move around Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall before going wide on Coreau and sliding it behind him to make it 2-0 Devils. The goal was unassisted. It was the first of two shorthanded goals the Devils would pot on the night. Detroit, with the NHL’s worst overall power play unit, ended up going 1-for-5 with the man advantage while the Devils were 0-for-1.

The second period began with the Devils having to kill a 5-on-3 power play. Vern Fiddler was called for holding at 8:17 and former Red Wing-Kyle Quincey for cross checking at 9:01. The Devils had about one minute of a 5-on-3 and then a 5-on-4 penalty kill. They successfully killed off both penalties. However, at the 18:03 mark of the second, Henrik Zetterberg finally broke through for Detroit, scoring from Gustav Nyquist and Anthony Mantha to cut the Devils lead in half, 2-1.

But 1:23 later, at the 19:26 mark, the Devils made it a two goal lead again when Ben Lovejoy moved the puck up the near wall in the Devils’ zone to Taylor Hall. The All-Star skated the puck up-ice with Travis Zajac and Palmieri. He used Zajac as a bit of a decoy, acting like he would pass to him in the middle, but instead went to the far wing to Palmieri. Palmieri skated it over the Red Wings blue line and fired a wrist shot glove side by Coreau to make it 3-1 New Jersey. It was Kyle Palmieri’s second goal of the game.

The third period was quiet until the 10:18 mark when Noesen was called for hooking and Detroit went on the power play again. But the Devils had an answer for that. Adam Henrique blocked a shot at the point and was off to the races on a breakaway – he beat Coreau over his right pad as he sprawled on the ice at 10:30 to make it 4-1 Devils. It was the first time since December 8, 2011 that the Devils had scored two shorties in one game. (In that game against Ottawa, Zach Parise and Dainius Zubrus turned the trick.)

It seemed the Devils had this one in the bag, but Detroit has a knack this year for coming back when against the wall. The drama began on the same power play the Devils had just scored shorthanded on. Tomas Tatar scored at 11:49 from Kronwall and Darren Helm to make it 4-2.

Then, at 15:18, Detroit continued the pressure when Nick Jensen scored on a goal mouth scramble from Zetterberg and Xavier Ouellet to make it 4-3. The Devils’ Damon Severson had a nice chance to put them up 5-3 right after, but sent the puck through the crease.

The tension continued after that when Palmieri was called for interference against Andreas Athanasiou at 17:44. The Wings pulled Coreau to give them a 6-on-4 advantage, but could not complete the comeback. The Devils killed off the penalty and then held on thanks to good goaltending and just scoring enough goals.

The Devils have now won five in a row on the road, but need to get things going at home if they want to make a push for the playoffs. And home is where they will be on Friday when they take on the Calgary Flames at Prudential Center. I will be attending this game and so my post on the game will be a little bit late. If the Devils can pick up more wins like this, then they should be able to get back into the middle of the playoff race and maybe even make a push.

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Devils Pick up Point, Fall to Red Wings in OT

How would the Devils follow up on their dramatic shootout victory over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday? They would be playing three games in four days over Thanksgiving weekend and were set to take on another Original Six foe in a truncated homestand.

Back home on Prudential Center ice, the Devils have not dropped a game this season in regulation. The good news is that that trend continued tonight versus the Detroit Red Wings. The bad news is that they only pulled one point from the struggling Wings. The Devils fell 5-4 in overtime in what was a pretty good see-saw, back-and-forth game.

The Devils got Kyle Palmieri back on the ice from injury. Reid Boucher and Jon Merrill were the scratches for New Jersey. Detroit was sitting Alexey Marchenko, Drew Miller and Xavier Ouellet.

In goal for the Devils – in a somewhat surprise move, considering they play tomorrow in Pittsburgh and you would think John Hynes would want a good, rested Cory Schneider to throw at the Stanley Cup champs – was Cory Schneider. Schneider stopped 28 of 33 Detroit shots on goal. The Red Wings started Jimmy Howard, but he only ended up playing 11:31 before Petr Mrazek came on in relief. Howard gave up a goal on three shots faced while Mrazek was 13-for-16 on the evening.

The Devils actually got the scoring started at 6:01 of the first period. It happened when Travis Zajac held on to the puck behind the Detroit net. He passed to John Moore, who was at the far face off dot, who one-timed it home. Palmieri had the secondary assist and it was 1-0 Devils.

But from there, the first period was the Frans Nielsen show. The former Islander had two goals in a little over three minutes. The first coming shorthanded while the Red Wings were killing a double minor for high sticking against Riley Sheahan (assist to Justin Abdelkader), at 7:23. The second came at 10:41 and was assisted by Sheahan and Abdelkader. The Wings went into the first intermission with a 2-1 lead.

But the Devils have been a tough team to play against and are very persistent, as shown by the Toronto game. They would retake the lead by the midway point of the second period. The tying goal came at 4:06 and happened when Michael Cammalleri came out of the near corner, throwing the puck on Mrazek’s net. He grabbed his own rebound and buried it, sneaking it by Mrazek’s low stick side. Zajac had the lone assist.

The Devils would take the lead at 5:56 when Pavel Zacha scored his second of the year. It came on the power play, while Jonathan Ericsson was serving an interference minor. Cammalleri held the zone and gave the puck to Beau Bennett, whose pass redirected off of a Red Wing skate and right to Zacha. Zacha did not miss his chance and buried it, giving the Devils a 3-2 lead.

But they would not get out of the period with that lead. The always dangerous Dylan Larkin snuck one past Cory with just 2.1 seconds left in the period. The assists went to Gustav Nyquist and Henrik Zetterberg. The Devils challenged the goal, saying Detroit was off side on the play, but the linesemen reviewed it and found it to be a good goal. The call on the ice stood and it was 3-3. New Jersey lost their time out on their first coach’s challenge of the season.

The third period would wind up knotted too, but at 4-4. Detroit came out swinging and took a 4-3 lead just 43 seconds into the third frame when Anthony Mantha scored from Zetterberg.

But the Devils had some fight left in them. At 14:49, with a delayed penalty against the Red Wings waiting to be called, the Devils put on the extra skater and put on the pressure in the Detroit zone. John Moore played catch with Kyle Quincey at the point. Quincey fired a shot that was redirected into the Wings’ net by Adam Henrique. The Devils had fought back again to tie things up.

Although the stat sheet shows that the Devils were 1-for-5 with the man advantage, for all intents and purposes, it was 2-for-6 with that goal. Detroit was 0-for-3 as the Devils killed off all three power plays against.

They would pick up the point, but it was not without drama. At the 18:42 mark of the third period, Kyle Palmieri was nabbed for high sticking Brendan Smith. He would be off for the remainder of the game and about a minute into overtime, should it go that way.

The Devils would kill off the power play in regulation and gain a point on the night. New Jersey would be guaranteed to remain the only team in the NHL unbeaten at home in regulation – since Montreal fell a few nights ago at Bell Centre.

The teams would play 4-on-3 in the extra period. Once they killed that off and Palmieri came back onto the ice, they would play at 4-on-4 until a stoppage in play.

There was no stoppage. At the 3:18 mark of OT, Mike Green beat Cory Schneider to win the game. Nielsen and Mantha had the assists.

So, the Devils could not beat a weaker Red Wings team and will now be traveling to Pittsburgh to play the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Hopefully, they keep some of the momentum they have gained from these last few games (the comebacks in both games showed a team with grit) and play the Pens hard. It would be nice if they did not have to play from behind every game, but Pittsburgh should be a good yardstick as to where this team is right now.