On Wednesday night, the Detroit Red Wings made the trip to Newark to face the New Jersey Devils in a game that didn’t really mean anything more than pride. The Devils, already having clinched a playoff spot, rested the following players: Nico Hischier, Stefan Noesen, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat, Luke Hughes, Brett Pesce, Johnathan Kovacevic and Jacob Markstrom.
Red Wings netminder Alex Lyon stopped 28 of 30 (.933%) as the Red Wings won by a score of 5-2. They improve to 39-35-7; the Devils fall to 42-33-7.
The Red Wings thought they took the lead, but the Devils successfully challenged for goaltender interference. Then later in the frame, Jonatan Berggren scored to officially make it 1-0 Red Wings.
Just over five minutes into the second, J.T. Compher went short side on Nico Daws to double their lead. They entered the third with the score still 2-0, until Dylan Larkin unleashed a quick wrister to add another.
The Devils got one of their own on the power play as Erik Haula made a perfect deflection off a Daniel Sprong wrister, making it 3-1. Then with about five minutes to go, Dawson Mercer picked up some loose change to make it 3-2. But Alex Debrincat scored during a 4-on-4 to restore the Red Wings’ two-goal lead, and Marco Kasper picked up an empty netter in the dying seconds to seal it.
