Green's OT goal hands Detroit second straight win

Photo by: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Mike Green’s patience on the ice paid off more than he knew. The Red Wings defenseman scored the game-winner in overtime that gave Detroit the 5-4 win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center Friday night. The victory added a second straight for the Red Wings and a much-needed win for goaltender Petr Mrazek who ended the night with 13 saves in a backup position.

The Red Wings put in a lot of effort to eek out a victory in Buffalo Wednesday night that got the monkey off their backs. There was little time to rest before their next game that took place after Thanksgiving with a trip to New Jersey. Howard was back in net after a strong performance in Buffalo gave him another game to start. With his good work as Detroit goaltender and the sticks of the Red Wings coming alive, the team as a whole brought positivity that would hope to turn into serious offensive power.

Detroit found themselves in a whole six minutes in as they left a part of the ice open during the Devil’s scoring chance. Kyle Palmieri returned to the team after an injury setting up the play where Travis Zajac got right on it. He got it out front to John Moore who took the shot notching his fourth of the season. To make matters worse, the Devils scored a huge four-minute power play that had every opportunity to increase the goal margin.

The Red Wings responded with a big move while shorthanded with Justin Abdelkader getting a short breakaway. He sent a drive that came back to teammate Frans Nielsen whose shot on Cory Schneider gave him his fourth as well. He added his second of the night three minutes later with an outstanding jump on the puck where a second chance tap gave Detroit a 2-1 lead.

A sudden change came to the Red Wings goaltending situation as Howard came to the bench during the break. An unknown situation sent Mrazek into replace him with over seven minutes left in the period. Detroit went on another power play but again couldn’t convert on the man advantage. The finished up the final two minutes of the first with an improved hold on shots to the net outdueling New Jersey 12-4. It was determined that Howard suffered a lower-body injury but returned to the bench.

Mrazek stayed in net to start the second defending his team’s lead while the offense tried to increase their shots on goal ratio. Both teams shot just once through the first four minutes but the Devils saw a great chance to even up the game. A battle for possession between Michael Cammalleri and Ryan Sproul on the boards led to the Devils veteran clearing the puck for his team. He got hold of it again taking a shot that went off the skate of Detroit’s Jonathan Ericsson that gave Cammalleri his fifth.

The Devils ended the woes of their struggling power play with a turnover in the Detroit zone that began a three-man play. The puck ended on the stick of Pavel Zacha who delivered a high shot top shelf giving his team the lead, and second unanswered by Mrazek. The problems of Detroit allowed the Devils to gain a tremendous amount of momentum that put them in prime position to maintain the lead in the period.

The Red Wings tried to make something happen during the power play but were once again foiled. By some miraculous play in the final seconds, a pass from Gustav Nyquist got to Dylan Larkin who quickly took a shot. His scoring chance got into the net with 1.2 seconds on the clock. The play was immediately challenged by Devils coach John Hynes speculating that Detroit was off-sides with the puck. Video evidence proved that Nyquist was in possession before the blue line thereby deeming it a good goal. It was Larkin’s sixth of the year and first since Nov. 10.

More had to be done by the Red Wings to get back ahead in the game and not let their momentum down. Anthony Mantha got his team rolling ahead for the second time in the game as he and captain Henrik Zetterberg hooked up to score just 43 seconds into the period. Mantha brought the puck in alone from the blue line sniping a shot top shelf that gave him his second. From that point and deeper into the third, Detroit did everything possible to prevent the Devils a chance to tie the game hoping to secure a regulation win on the road.

New Jersey had other plans making them clear on a delayed penalty that saw former Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey drive the puck only to have it redirected by Adam Henrique to level the game at four all. Time became a huge factor for both teams to make one last stab at gaining control of the score or face overtime. It was a back and forth battle for possession with the Red Wings clearly showing their attempts to get the best of their opponents.

Despite the continuous problems with their power play, a final shot at making something happen came in the shape of a power play in the final minutes of play. Things ended still even leading to a 4 on 3 power play going into a five-minute period. The Devils killed off the remainder of the penalty that put things on even strength.

The Red Wings were taking some serious shots on the New Jersey net coming close each time. With two minutes left on the clock, the Red Wings got a huge sigh of relief with Green becoming the hero. Tomas Tatar slid the puck at center to Green patiently waiting for the moment to fire things off and win it for the Red Wings.

With two games in the bag for Detroit, a big matchup stood in front of them as they would host the Montreal Canadiens who shut them out in the last meeting. For the Red Wings, it meant that an embarrassment could not be a factor in Saturday’s match.