James Nichols
So, it really is all or nothing for the New Jersey Devils this season.
When they win, they look so dominant. When they lose, they lay an egg. And that’s what happened on Sunday night while hosting the Detroit Red Wings in a joint shutout pitched by the Motor City goaltenders.
The Devils played particularly well through 40 minutes. In fact, they dinged two posts on the sticks of Connor Brown and Lenni Hameenaho.
However, their luck wouldn’t turn, and the Devils’ four-game win streak was snapped in Jacob Markstrom‘s second start of the weekend.
It was a good start for the Devils who controled the pace of play for the first three and a half minutes of play, putting decent pressure on Red Wings goaltender John Gibson early.
However, the Red Wings took an early 1-0 lead when Markstrom was screened by traffic and Moritz Seider’s wrister from the point found twine.
Despite the score, the Devils controlled the pace of play through the remainder of the first period, but couldn’t solve Gibson before the first intermission.
The second period brought more of the same as New Jersey continued to control the game, despite trailing on the scoreboard.
Detroit then doubled their lead at the 6:37 mark of the second period after James van Riemsdyk redirected Seider’s shot from the blueline by Markstrom to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead.
A chippy game game to a boiling point when Brenden Dillon with Andrew Copp high with a heavy hit that planted the Red Wings forward. Dillon was called for a two-minute interference after multiple scrums ensued between the whistles.
The Devils killed off the minor penalty, however.
When the Devils and Red Wings emerged from their respective locker rooms after the second intermission, Detroit made a goaltending 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 couldn’t keep up with Detroit who took control of the game, not just on the scoreboard, but also on the ice.
Dominik Shine extended the Red Wings lead to 3-0, scoring his first NHL goal by tapping in a cross ice pass by van Riemsdyk on Markstrom’s back door, and seal a victory for Detroit.
Markstrom made 27 saves on 30 shots and suffered his 15th loss of the season.
