In Newark, a four-goal second period boosted the Detroit Red Wings past the New Jersey Devils, 5-2 on Saturday.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves in the Detroit win.
“‘Ned’ probably bailed us out in the second, on a huge push by them,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “They have a ton of skill, they come in waves, and he was there to get us out of that period.”
Dylan Larkin picked up a goal and three points in the win.
“I just love the way we battled, the way we blocked shots, the way we played together when we go down,” Larkin said. “[Nedeljkovic] played a great game. He handled everything in front of him and I think that’s two in a row for us where we’ve got great goaltending.”
Jakub Vrana and Ben Chiarot potted a goal each and two points for the Red Wings.
Dougie Hamilton and Miles Wood scored for New Jersey.
“We all know it’s not where we want to be, to a man,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “Not one guy in that locker room wants to accept where we’re at. Everybody cares. I think you saw that with the effort that was going in the second period. If you look at some of the mistakes that they made that we didn’t convert on, that’s probably the difference in the game.”
Dominik Kubalik and David Perron also scored for Detroit.
“I liked the maturity of our team to take that momentum (after Larkin’s goal),” Lalonde said. “Anytime you get scored on late in a period, it’s tough. There’s a huge momentum swing, but it was up to us to not give momentum back early in the third period and I thought we did that.”
Vitek Vanecekmade 17 saves in the New Jersey loss.
“We can’t get too low. It’s two games,” said Nico Hischier . We can’t get too low. We’re looking to win the next one. That’s the mindset right now. We can’t get too low; 80 more to go.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.