Thursday night the Devils looked to bring fire back to the team at Little Caesars Arena where they played the Detroit Red Wings. With Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes off the injured list and playing, the Devils hoped to see a improvement within the defense that would hopefully give them the win. They’d fall short at the last minute though which would lead Detroit to a 5-3 win. This loss almost felt like a reference to the 2023-2024 season with how New Jersey played.
With Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce’s return, the Devils hoped to finally tighten up on their defense; the loose defensive play in the last game against Tampa Lightning was what caused such a slump for them. The team swapped out Simon Nemec and Daniil Misyul, who sat out the game. The Devils offense, though, was playing exactly the way they needed. They never faltered even when down five goals, which is a huge improvement from the 2023-2024 season where they would falter even when behind only 1-2 goals.
Starting out the first period New Jersey would show some improvement. The defense was providing security as the offense worked their magic. It would also seem that Brett Pesce fit right in as he was making knowledgeable plays to clear the puck and would continue to make opportunities in front of the net for his teammates. Then Moritz Seider would take a penalty to give the Devils a power play. During this powerplay Nico Hischier would score his sixth of the season off a feed from Jesper Bratt, New Jersey would show up on the board first.
Cap is on 🔥#NJDevils | @Mikes_Amazing pic.twitter.com/rgeeLrfRrJ
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 24, 2024
The Devils would continue to dominate in the offensive zone as they would be able to keep it in the zone for a longer period of time as the defense would be doing their part, but even with the strong pace the Devils had Christian Fischer was still able to sneak one past Jacob Markstrom and tie the game for the Red Wings. This would falter the Devils play as the defense would lose their focus they had beforehand, this would cause Alex DeBrincat to net one right before the end of regulation, putting the score at 2-1 Detroit. This would be the ending score for the first period.
Throughout the first period there were many quality shots for New Jersey, and most of the goals against the Devils consisted of unfortunate turnovers and giveaways. The offense was able to make good revenue with the passes from the defense, though. And those passes have been needed.
Going out onto the ice the Devils would immediately find their footing and resume the powerful surge of play they had prior to the Red Wings’ two goals. From there it was only a matter of time until the Devils would find their way to the scoreboard again, and that they did do. Erik Haula scored in his 700th game to tie the game at 2-2. His goal would be assisted by Timo Meier and Luke Hughes, and this was also Luke Hughes’s first point of the season. New Jersey continued to control almost every zone of play, but they would be unable to take the lead, and the second period of the game would end at a tie of 2-2.
Mr. 700 gets us level and we’re Haula bout it. pic.twitter.com/GXAoFobcpn
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 25, 2024
The second period seemed to hold the Devils best plays of the game as they were able to keep Detroit from taking the lead. New Jersey’s offense was also able to transition their electric plays into the 2nd period well as they continued to form good chances.
The 3rd period began with Detroit having lots of command over the puck. Only 9 minutes in a scrum would break out between Brendan Dillon and Christian Fischer after a hard hit on Dillon himself. The resulting effect of the fight would be a negative for the Devils with Dylan Larkin taking the lead for the Red Wings at 3-2 from Patrick Kane and Lucas Raymond. Even with the disappointment of losing the lead once again, New Jersey would continue to fight. With a huge power play given to the Devils their relentless play would then transition into another goal for Nico Hischier from Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, tying the game once again at 3-3. Nico Hischier has been a huge contributor in these last few games for the Devils as he’s been able to tie the games continuously and play at his full potential even when losing.
Nico. Can’t. Stop. Scoring. Goals.#NJDevils | @Mikes_Amazing pic.twitter.com/a7AiWXfSKq
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 25, 2024
Even with the Devils willingness to continue fighting, they’d fall short once again when during a penalty kill, Patrick Kane would sneak one in from Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat. New Jerseys disappointment would be evident. Only three minutes later Jacob Markstrom would be pulled out of the net and almost immediately Micheal Rasmussen would score on the empty net to secure the win for the Detroit Red Wings. The game would end with a score of 5-3 Detroit.
This game for the Devils had a huge sense of Deja Vu as many plays made were similar to ones made during their 8-5 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Even with the obvious domination the Devils had many adjustments need to be made once again, the goaltending needs to have stability once again as many goals should have been saves. On a positive note both the offense and defense played a much better game.
The Devils play their next game Tomorrow night at home, against a Division Rival, the New York Islanders.
