Red Wings lose another in overtime by Devils

Brian Boyle #11 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his first period goal with teammates Miles Wood #44, Taylor Hall #9, Steven Santini #16 and Andy Greene #6 during an NHL game against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on November 25, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Red Wings want of two points was quenched once more at Little Caesars Arena Saturday night. Brian Gibbons scored the game winner in overtime that gave the New Jersey Devils a 4-3 win over Detroit who suffered their fourth straight defeat.

Detroit tries to avoid a four-game slide after dealing with their last two defeats. The Edmonton Oilers got their revenge against Detroit winning 6-2 on Wednesday and the New York Rangers winning in overtime at home having dealt with the Red Wings surging on shots but making very little into the net behind Henrik Lundqvist. With two losses at home this week, the Red Wings needed to break early against New Jersey and dictate the puck. Petr Mrazek earned his first start in net for Detroit waiting 16 days since his last.

He watched in excitement as Detroit got the lead 34 seconds into the game with Xavier Oulett firing the puck from the blue line. On its way to the net, David Booth who celebrated his 33^rd birthday yesterday got his first goal of the season. Luke Glendening got an assist on the shot that had Detroit going in the right direction. Mrazek was in tow with his team stopping some shots against the Devils including one by Jesper Bratt trying to deke out the Czech but was denied. They got on the board near the midway point with Steven Santini firing the puck from the boards where Brian Boyle got his stick up just in time to send it wide of Mrazek giving Boyle his third.

Taylor Hall got New Jersey the lead five minutes later during a power play. His centering shot from the far end got through the five hole of Mrazek for his eighth of the year. The Devils were showing serious strength in their quest to dominate the period nearly getting another that went off the post. By the time the period came to a finish, New Jersey fired 12 shots on goal while Detroit only got seven in the first twenty minutes

 They made it a mission to not only stop New Jersey from creating a bigger gap in the score but also finding more time with the puck. They got their chances at Keith Kincaid between the pipes for the Devils but still found themselves down a goal. Mrazek kept the stops coming with defense assisting him when in trouble. Detroit finished the period with a much-improved offense taking 14 shots while holding New Jersey to eight.

Detroit opened the third with a continuing power play but couldn’t covert a tying goal. New Jersey gave them another chance on Adam Henrique’s crash into Mrazek. As Henrique was going in with the puck, he hit Mrazek in the head with an elbow which was called for goaltender interference. When the penalty was over, Henrique came out to steal the puck away near the boards before passing it to Nico Hischier where he scored the fourth of his career to take a 3-1 lead.

The hit on Mrazek seemed to be enough for him after Hischier’s goal as he was replaced by Jimmy Howard due to possible concussion symptoms by NHL officials. The Red Wings needed to make things happen offensively and with some moves by Anthony Mantha, they got a goal down with Mantha’s 11^th that went top shelf. Boyle was upset by how Mantha got the puck from Boyle using his skates to move it forward. Officials didn’t review the play and the game moved on.

Just 1:26 after getting within reach, Booth made it all even with a change on the fly where he got hold of a loose puck scoring his second of the night. It was just the fifth shot in the period for Detroit with plenty of time left to find the go ahead. Detroit had 12 shots on goal in the period but as time was playing against them, the hope of winning in regulation was becoming difficult to complete. They were forced to go to overtime for the third time in their last four games hoping to win one.

New Jersey found themselves on a mission quicker than Detroit as they pulled the first strike at Howard. They had two shots so far but the third one ended everything. Gibbons followed Detroit’s Nick Jensen behind the net near the boards. As they came around, Gibbons made a turnover going in on Howard to take a shot that brought an end to the game handing the 29-year-old his 11^th.

While it wasn’t the result Howard wanted, his quest to stay strong did occur in his relief efforts. He stopped seven of eight but ended up getting the loss against him. With the losing streak continuing to go on, the Red Wings would get two days to figure things out before hosting the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday.