The Red Wings were on a roll that showed a full team effort at Little Caesars Arena Thursday night. Two goals from Michael Rasmussen and a second consecutive empty netter helped Detroit defeat the New Jersey Devils 4-3 giving them their third straight win. Jimmy Howard increased his success stopping 25 shots on goal as he and the squad improved their bottom line.
The Red Wings stand with a two-game winning streak that has taken place at home with things starting to go the right way for them. The pattern of Detroit’s offense began to click the way they wanted it to earning victories against the Dallas Stars and Columbus Blue Jackets. While the wins have begun to appear, the team continued to adjust the lines with reassignments and recalls which included Wade Megan coming to see where he fits on the roster. With their defense getting stronger as Mike Green returned to compete, they once again fight for a chance to keep their winning ways going.
The game was slow through the first few minutes with the Devils first on the books with a shot at Howard who was looking for another victory. New Jersey tried to challenge him in the fourth minute when they got a power play that didn’t come together for them against Detroit’s special teams. They got on the board as well but had only made one shot through seven minutes. The Red Wings added more time to make something happen with a man advantage that saw a great pass from Green turn into a one-timer. Behind the shot was Martin Frk who fired the puck into the net behind goaltender Cory Schneider for his first of the year.
They quickly got back on the power play but were denied another as New Jersey tightened up the coverage while shorthanded. It didn’t take too much from them as they began to produce a little more. When the game returned to even strength, the Red Wings were still in a comfortable position with puck possession. The Devils found a way to get into the pace Detroit had taken control of but were still facing a deficit with a short amount of time left. When the horn sounded, they were outshot 12-6 as the Red Wings had a great start to the contest.
It was another slow start for the teams as they got into the second period. Detroit managed to do the important part and get ahead of the Devils to control the situation. They held them off through 14 minutes with New Jersey getting some scoring chances recorded. An opportunity for them to level things came on a great grab of the puck behind the Detroit net where Travis Zajac got it in front where Blake Coleman stood to score his fourth.
The Devils threatened to take the lead on a power play but the Red Wings made the stop with their PK unit. They made a move to try and make it their time to get the lead pressing the puck close to the New Jersey net where the defense and Schnieder had to rally and stop the play. It ended with Luke Glendening getting into a scuffle with Mirco Mueller who suffered a couple of shots behind the helmet before he went down near the net.
Both went to the box for fighting but Detroit caught a break with a holding call going against the Devils. They only had 15 seconds to do something which concluded with New Jersey clearing it out. Detroit had a majority of the second period in their hands but a slip up gave the Devils a shot at making the third period very interesting. They were only outshot 10-8 making the next 20 minutes with the score tied a concerning time for the Red Wings winning streak.
As the third period got underway, Detroit finished up their power play being denied a chance to edge ahead on the score. They soon discovered that it wasn’t going to be them to change the tide as they suffered a penalty putting the Devils on the man advantage. It took them some time to find the opportunity but a drive from a drive from Sami Vatanen gave New Jersey the lead three minutes in and his first. The Red Wings were going to let the deficit sit around long as they were determined not to run behind the Devils in the game. Rasmussen made that clear scoring his second of the season with help from Gustav Nyquist and Dennis Cholowski who notched his eighth point. Rasmussen fought to make sure the puck got behind Schneider to level the score just short of the five-minute mark.
The teams combined for three shots through seven and a half minutes making it a tight race to the finish. Detroit was still taking its time with the puck seriously slapping it away at the Devils netminder who was under pressure to not allow another one. He got a break as the Red Wings got caught on a penalty putting New Jersey on the power play. They lost their chance to overtaking Detroit as Glendening’s stick stopped the pass at center to take off with the puck skating for a shot that he didn’t get credit as Justin Abdelkader got a stick on it to score shorthanded. Abdelkader got his second of the season with six minutes to go.
Detroit was playing a major set of defense with Howard intent on finishing the period with a victory. Four minutes went by and New Jersey wasn’t finding their way to get a grip on a chance to force overtime. With two minutes left, they pulled Schneider from the net on two occasions to give the Devils a 6-5 opportunity. Howard made a great save on a wide-open shot from Kyle Palmieri that nearly had the game tied. There was still 68 seconds left for the Devils who took a timeout.
After two saves off the leg pad from Howard, they attacked the net scrambling to take every shot possible before a cross-check from Jonathan Ericsson made it 6 on 4 for New Jersey. 49.3 seconds were left with the Devils taking a faceoff in the offensive zone. Dylan Larkin made it key to win the faceoff which got to Trevor Daley who slid the puck down the line that went into the net making it their second straight game of doing so.
It was the fourth they had and another way of securing the victory. The Devils got another goal with on what Howard felt was goaltender interference but was overruled by officials. Marcus Johansson got his second of the season but it wouldn’t help them. There were just four seconds on the clock that gave the Devils little chance of forcing overtime which the Red Wings made sure of.
"We're just starting to play, said Niklas Kronwall after the game."Were getting some bounces and were holding on to the puck a lot longer in the offensive zone. All in all, were spending more time there and when you have control of the puck it leads to confidence so I think that's been a big plus here."
"We're just starting to play, said Niklas Kronwall after the game."Were getting some bounces and were holding on to the puck a lot longer in the offensive zone. All in all, were spending more time there and when you have control of the puck it leads to confidence so I think that's been a big plus here."
Howard finished the night recording his third win with a .893 save percentage with his GAA still above three. With a good winning streak alive and well, they’ll try to make it four when they host the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
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