New Jersey Devils: Desperate Output Leads To Win Versus Red Wings

The New Jersey Devils had a much-needed win vs a Detroit Red Wings team. They needed to pull out all the stops to make sure they got this victory.

The New Jersey Devils needed a win in the worst way possible. It doesn’t matter that it was against the 31st place Detroit Red Wings, because a win is a win in the National Hockey League. Playing a team like Detroit allows your best players to play their game and feel good about themselves going forward.

Louis Domingue got his first-ever Devils start in this one, and he was brilliant. He made 19 saves on 20 shots to lead the Devils to a 5-1 victory. He was put in relief the night before as the Pittsburgh Penguins walked all over the Devils. He made all five saves in his 17:30 minutes of play. There is no doubt that he is off to a good start to his Devils tenure. He didn’t come into an ideal situation as he was called up to replace Cory Schneider. He is taking it as it is and doing what he needs to do.

Kyle Palmieri was a force out there as was Blake Coleman. These two combined for three goals, leading the Devils offense. Taylor Hall added in an empty-net goal himself to give himself goals in back-to-back games. These three guys are very important to the success of the team and they showed up to give Domingue some goal support. After Detroit went up 1-0, it was all Devils after that.

Nico Hischeir has been a force ever since being added to the top power-play unit. He didn’t collect any points with the man advantage, but he did earn an assist on Will Butcher‘s even-strength goal. Nico is really showing that he is the best net-front presence on the Devils and he makes an impact in that role. He had some near misses in this game so it is clear that once the bounces start going his way on the power play he is going to rack up even more points.

Jack Hughes didn’t have any points in this game, but he played like a guy who should have had at least two. He is so dynamic when he has the puck and he shows his big-time ability. He dances around with the puck as good as any player in the league and they are going to start connecting for goals regularly in the not so distant future. He ended up with four shots on net and he is showing incredible ability to set up his teammates.

Again, this Detroit team is in a bad spot right now, and they made the Devils look like an elite team out there. It should be taken with a grain of salt in that aspect but there are the previously mentioned positives to draw. The right players need to play well and they did. The Devils are going to be back in action against another struggling team when the Minnesota Wild come to the Prudential Center.