So, it's really all or nothing for the New Jersey Devils this season.
They look very impressive when they win. When they are defeated, they lay an egg. And that's what happened Sunday night as the Motor City goaltenders hosted the Detroit Red Wings in a combined shutout.
The Devils played particularly well for 40 minutes. In fact, he put two on the sticks of Connor Brown and Lenny Haminaho.
However, their luck didn't change and Jacob Markstrom's second start of the weekend snapped the Devils' four-game winning streak.
It was a good start for the Devils, who controlled the tempo of the game for the first three and a half minutes of play, and put good pressure on Red Wings goaltender John Gibson early.
However, the Red Wings took an early 1–0 lead when Markstrom was checked by traffic and found twine on the wrist of Moritz Seider from the point.
Regardless of the score, the Devils controlled the pace of the game for the remainder of the first period, but could not solve Gibson before the first intermission.
The same thing happened in the second period as New Jersey maintained control of the game despite falling behind on the scoreboard.
Detroit doubled its lead at the 6:37 mark of the second period after James van Riemsdyk gave the Red Wings a 2–0 lead after Markstrom redirected Seider's shot from the blueline.
A fast-paced game came to a head when Brendan Dillon combined with Andrew Copp to push the Red Wings forward. Dillon was called for a two-minute intervention after several scuffles broke out between whistles.
However, the Devils coughed up the minor penalty.
When the Devils and Red Wings emerged from their respective locker rooms after the second intermission, Detroit made a goal-tending change. Gibson remained in the Detroit locker room, while Cam Talbot took the net in relief.
And then the Red Wings took over.
The Devils could not keep up with Detroit, who took control of the game not only on the scoreboard, but on the ice as well.
Dominic Shine scored his first NHL goal by tapping Van Riemsdyk's cross ice pass past Markstrom to increase the Red Wings' lead to 3–0 and seal the victory for Detroit.
Markstrom made 27 saves on 30 shots and suffered his 15th loss of the season.
