Just days after being officially eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, the New Jersey Devils played spoiler on Saturday.
The Devils scored three third period goals and eliminated the Detroit Red Wings from postseason contention with a 5–3 victory at Little Caesars Arena.
Jesper Bratt had two goals and an assist, and Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist. The Devils snapped a two-game losing streak, taking the season series 2–1 from the Wings and winning for the ninth time in their last 15 games.
Devils rally to defeat Detroit Red Wings on Saturday
The Wings entered the game desperate, hoping to keep their playoff hopes alive. Detroit recorded the game's first 10 shots on goal, the last of which was Justin Faulk's 15th goal of the season to put the Wings up 1–0 at 9:41 of the first.
Less than a minute after Hughes' goal, on the Devils' first shot on goal, both tied the score and helped the Devils find their game. Nevertheless, the Devils were 13 minutes away from their third consecutive loss after Detroit forward Emmitt Finney scored his 13th goal of the season on a rebound at 7:00 of the final frame.
“He definitely had a lot to play for,” Bratt said. “They had to go for it and win.”
Still, Cody Glass added to his career year by scoring a spectacular goal, his 19th, at 11:18. Bratt then executed a perfect two-on-one off a turnover created by Hughes, and his 22nd of the year with just 3:34 left in regulation to give the Devils a 4–3 lead.
"We were just patient and waiting for them to make mistakes," Bratt said. “We just took advantage of it to a certain extent.”
With Detroit's season at stake – with a win it could have kept pace with the Ottawa Senators, who had defeated the New York Islanders earlier in the day – the Devils outscored them 12–7 in the final frame. New Jersey sealed its 41st win on an empty net goal by Dawson Mercer.
"I'm very proud of the group right now," Bratt said. “I thought we played very well, a very solid road game.”
The second period was dominated by devils
Devils coach Sheldon Keefe attributed their early game struggles to Dougie Hamilton's first-period tripping penalty, which "caught us off guard." But after surviving that and Detroit's early pressure, the Devils dominated the second period.
The Devils outshot the Red Wings 13–8 in the second and took the second-period shot-attempt count 33–13. According to Natural Stat Trick, New Jersey had a total expected goals total of 1.72 in the second period, and recorded 21 scoring chances and nine high-danger chances.
“I really liked our game today,” Keefe said. “It took us a while to get going on offense… Once we learned how to cook, I thought we were pretty good the rest of the way.
“Key second period, which is what we were looking for.”
The Devils nearly trailed 2–1 heading into the third, as David Perron gave the Red Wings the lead with his 12th goal of the season at 11:59. But Bratt's sight-seeing shot from the high slot beat Gibson and gave the Devils the rare puck luck they had sorely lacked all year.
Keefe said, "We weren't necessarily rewarded. It took a while." "[The Devils’ play] “Probably got some mileage out of their top defenseman in that second period, which probably worked to our advantage later in the game.”
Jake Allen was solid in goal
Faulk's goal was a stoppable shot, but Devils goaltender Jake Allen was difficult to stop when he was under for most of the first period.
Allen made 25 saves, 12 of which came in the first period where he allowed one goal but according to Natural Stat Trick, the Red Wings had a 1.91 expected goals against. The Wings finished with 3.78 xG, and Allen blocked six of seven high-danger shots (.857 save%) while outscoring Gibson at the other end.
Allen will likely start the Devils' season finale at Boston on Tuesday, as Nico Douse will start Sunday against Ottawa and No. 1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom was shut down on Friday. He has been playing well all season long and has improved his numbers to 17-17-2 with a .904 save% and 2.74 GAA this season.
