In Detroit, the Red Wings managed a standoff after 20 minutes on Wednesday night, but were skunked in the final 40 minutes in a 5-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
Five different skaters scored for New Jersey.
“This was a great team win,” said New Jersey’s Nice Hischier. “We had a lot of guys step up and make plays.”
Dougie Hamilton and Hischier hit for power play goals in the second period for a 2-0 lead for New Jersey.
Vitek Vanecek made 32 saves in the win.
“[Vanecek] has been outstanding all year,” said Devils forward Miles Wood, who had two assists. “He’s just been so consistent with his game. It’s really unfortunate we let up and they got that goal at the end, because I know he really wanted that shutout.”
New Jersey improved to 24-11-3.
“Tonight was an incredibly frustrating game, because I felt like poor special teams and a great performance by their goalie overshadowed a pretty good 5-on-5 game for us,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said.
Lucas Raymond was the lone striker for the Red Wings, his goal came with two minutes left in the third to break up the shutout bid.
Detroit dropped to 16-13-7, and have fallen into a pattern of letting the opposition build big early leads before their offense gets on track.
“That’s just not sustainable,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “I thought we played well enough at 5-on-5 to win the game, but we lost the special-teams battle and we didn’t get anything past Vanecek.”
Michael McLeod, Alexander Holtz, and Jack Hughes scored in the third period to give New Jersey a 5-0 lead before the Red Wings found the back of the net.
“I didn’t think we gave up many high-quality chances, but he made all the saves we needed him to make,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said.
Ville Husso made 22 saves in the Detroit loss.
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