A day after a lopsided loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings rebounded with one of their best defensive performances of the season.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 17 saves, and both Oskar Sundqvist and Tyler Bertuzzi contributed a goal and an assist, leading the Red Wings to a 3-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
“Some things were said in the room after the game yesterday,” Nedeljkovic said, referring to the 7-2 defeat by the Penguins. “We’ve had too many of those games where we ended up getting kind of blown out, and today, I think, was a big game for some guys to kind of rebound and right the ship in a way, myself included.”
The 17 shots allowed were the second-fewest this season for the Red Wings, who previously limited Anaheim to 15 shots in a 2-1 win on January 31.
“I think we had some urgency,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said after the team snapped a two-game losing streak and secured their second win in six games. “We had some jump in our game and some purpose; we were playing like we were playing for something; we were playing for some pride.”
Sundqvist scored in the first period, while Bertuzzi and Michael Rasmussen added empty-net goals late in the game.
New Jersey goaltender Andrew Hammond made 21 saves as the Devils suffered their seventh consecutive home loss.
The Devils played without captain Nico Hischier, who was ill. This left them without their top two centers since Jack Hughes is out for the season.
“It’s frustrating, you know. You really want to feel good, but sometimes that’s just the way it is, and you have to dig deep to get through the game,” said veteran forward Tomas Tatar. But like I said, I’m personally disappointed. I would expect more from us.”
Nedeljkovic earned his fourth shutout of the season, aided by a bit of good fortune and a successful challenge by the Detroit bench.
Late in the second period, Devils forward Yegor Sharangovich appeared to tie the game with a bad-angle shot that went in off Nedeljkovic’s pad. However, the Red Wings challenged the goal, and the replay showed that Devils defenseman Damon Severson was clearly offside entering the zone, nullifying the goal.
“They were kind of feeling it right there, but that happens; sometimes you get the bounces,” said Nedeljkovic, who also saw Devils forward Pavel Zacha miss the net on a third-period breakaway with the score still 1-0.
Detroit had a potential goal by Adam Erne disallowed with 7:56 left when officials ruled that Erne had interfered with Hammond on a shot by Danny DeKeyser.
Sundqvist scored with 4:12 left in the first period on a quick play. Bertuzzi poked the puck off the stick of Devils forward Andreas Johnsson in the corner, and it rolled right to Sundqvist for a quick shot that beat a surprised Hammond.
UP NEXT
- Red Wings: At Toronto on Tuesday night in the second game of their season-ending three-game road trip.
- Devils: At Ottawa on Tuesday.
