Alex Nedeljkovic made 37 saves, and Dylan Larkin tallied a goal and two assists to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.
Ben Chiarot and Jakub Vrana each recorded a goal and an assist as the Red Wings secured their second consecutive win to start the season. David Perron and Dominik Kubalik also found the back of the net.
Detroit opened the season with a 3-0 victory over Montreal on Friday night.
“There’s probably some things within our game that led to too many quality looks again with Ned bailing us out,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said, “but for the most part, we’re doing the right thing on keeping it out of our net with the mentality before putting it in the net.”
Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist for New Jersey, while Miles Wood scored.
Hamilton initiated the scoring 4:45 into the first period, capitalizing on a pass from Jesper Bratt to net his first goal of the season with a powerful shot from the blue line.
Detroit responded early in the second period. Goals by Chiarot and Vrana propelled the Red Wings to a 2-1 lead. Chiarot scored off a shot from the blue line assisted by Larkin, while Lucas Raymond and Chiarot assisted Vrana’s goal at 4:34.
Wood quickly responded for New Jersey, scoring just 10 seconds later. However, Detroit regained the lead with two more second-period goals. Perron made it 3-2 at 17:02, and Larkin added a short-handed goal in the final second after Devils goaltender Vitek Vanecek lost his stick.
“I actually didn’t know how much time was left, so thankfully I shot it,” Larkin said.
Devils coach Lindy Ruff acknowledged the significance of Larkin’s goal.
“That’s really kind of a dagger when you put all that into that period, and you give that up late,” he said.
New Jersey faced boos from their home crowd at the Prudential Center after 40 minutes, following a similar reaction during introductions. The Devils had previously lost 5-2 to Philadelphia on Thursday night.
“We got passionate fans here. They’re used to winning,” Ruff said. “That’s a part of my business. I mean, that’s a part of my job. I take full responsibility for when this team loses.”
Kubalik extended Detroit’s lead to 5-2 at 10:55 into the third period.
Vanecek, making his Devils debut, had 16 saves. He previously played for Washington before signing a three-year contract with New Jersey in the offseason.
Nedeljkovic is expected to share goaltending duties with Ville Husso for Detroit this season.
INJURIES
Devils captain Nico Hischier returned to the lineup after missing several weeks with an ankle injury. “First game of the year, so still kind of finding my timing a bit, but I go out there, battle hard, so that’s what I’m trying to do, but definitely did feel better,” Hischier said. Detroit’s Tyler Bertuzzi left the game 4:05 into the second period after blocking a shot. Lalonde said it was an upper-body injury and Bertuzzi would be reevaluated Monday.
UP NEXT
- Red Wings: Host Los Angeles on Monday night.
- Devils: Host Anaheim on Tuesday night.
