Red Wings shutout Devils in 3-0 win

The Detroit Red Wings celebrate Tyler Bertuzzi's first period goal during the game against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on January 22, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Red Wings learned the mistakes from Saturday and produced a fine form of hockey at the Prudential Center Monday night. Detroit’s defense and goaltender Petr Mrazek held off the New Jersey Devils in a 3-0 shutout.

Injuries appear on both teams which would affect the power of either going in with a losing streak. While the Devils only had one loss dating back to Saturday, they found themselves without Taylor Hall because of a hand injury keeping him out two games. The Red Wings IR list got longer with Luke Glendening, Justin Abdelkader and Trevor Daley going down while the team suffered a two game losing streak in Saturday’s home loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. With being on the road once again for a short time, Detroit hoped to use defenseman Joe Hicketts and forward Tyler Bertuzzi on the first line as a difference maker to get a win.

The Devils challenged Detroit early taking a lead on shots to the net that Mrazek dealt with. He made a quick slide blocking a wraparound attempt from Drew Stafford to attempted to get New Jersey ahead. The Red Wings were tailing them 7-3 on shots to the net after six minutes but Detroit remained relentless. Dylan Larkin brought a play in the Devils zone backhanding a shot at center hitting Devils goalie Cory Schneider’s pads. As it rebounded, Bertuzzi got to the puck scoring the one-timer for his second of the season.

With the good point of starting on time while being behind on the shots, Detroit had the lead through 12 minutes was a lot to be confident about. They began to create scoring chances with one from Anthony Mantha going off the post. It didn’t deter them from quitting as gaining ground with time on the clock was the order of the period. While they didn’t get another one against New Jersey they accomplished a good show on offense outshooting them 12-11.

Detroit got a chance to increase their chances of shooting at Schneider as they wanted to gain further ground as the second period got rolling. They couldn’t convert on the man advantage and fell into some trouble minutes later. A power play went to the Devils who later got another one but failed to break through Mrazek and the Detroit PK unit. The Devils didn’t make it easy for Detroit either as they couldn’t gain any open ground facing Schneider as New Jersey overturned the puck at times.

The Devils went back on the man advantage as the fifth power play of the night went into action with six minutes left. Detroit showed consistency supporting Mrazek while he had good focus on the quick shots New Jersey got off but not behind him. The work to keep the Devils scoreless paid off for them late with 1:48 left with Jonathan Ericsson bringing the puck in the Devils zone.

The veteran defenseman found David Booth ready where he rifled the pass getting it well above Schneider who went down on the pads only to have another goal allowed. It was Booth’s fourth of the season and first since Dec. 5. “When Ericsson gave me the puck I just wanted to get a shot on net,” Booth said about his goal. “I wanted to get a shot on net and create something there and really didn’t know it went in till I saw the red light on.” They finished strong on the right mark despite being outdone by the Devils 12-9 who knew that they needed a solid third period for a comeback.

They almost had the start two minutes in as a shot at Mrazek left the left side of the net open where Drew Stafford went for a try but got tied up with Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg who took the penalty for holding. Detroit made a fourth successful penalty kill keeping the Devils away from scoring one to change the pace of the game.

They were denied through several minutes as the Red Wings kept the defense on lock to kill time off the clock and keep the two goal buffer alive. With 8:57 left, they made it 3-0 on a shot from Dylan Larkin that ended up being a response from the rest of his teammates until they saw that it was good. Officials went back to check on the play and determined the puck went into the net fully despite the light not coming on. Larkin gained his eighth securing two points in the game while making it very difficult for their opponents.

The Devils were in dire straight but got another chance to make something happen on the man advantage. For a fifth time, the Red Wings killed the penalty they created that built up a lot of confidence to come out of the game strong with four minutes left. With the Devils all but out, the Red Wings were not ready to give up putting pucks at Schneider with Gustav Nyquist tapping one that didn’t get beyond the goal line for him to get credit on the scoreboard. He let it go as they played the last minute in regulation bringing a much needed win on their short getaway from home.

Mrazek earned his second shutout against the Devils since Jan. 2006 which also set a new franchise record for the Red Wings. Mrazek created a big win that gave the Czech netminder back to back shutouts in his starts that hasn’t been done since January 2008 when Dominik Hasek pulled off the feat. The 25 year old made 37 saves with 11 of them coming on the Devils power play which had five attempts.

“Well I felt pretty good before the game and tried to build a game like I had in Chicago and I tried to stay focus and it was a big one,” Mrazek said during his press conference.

While it was a good overall win from the team, they couldn’t relax as the work done needed to go into tomorrow night’s match at home where they’ll host the Philadelphia Flyers.