DETROIT, MI - Defensive breakdowns, problems with puck management, and trouble in the neutral zone: three areas that led to the Devils 4-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night. This was the first time New Jersey was kept off the board since Apr. 24, 2022, against the Red Wings in New Jersey.
“I saw a total lack of respect for our puck play,” Ruff said post-game. “Turned too many pucks over. Every time we turned it over it was in the back of our net. Just a total lack of disrespect for time and place in the game and just puck management.”
“Soft play in the neutral zone,” John Marino said post-game. “Not being above guys, too many turnovers really resulted in those odd-man rushes."
Three goals late in the first period started the scoring for Detroit. Lucas Raymond capitalized on a 2-on-1 to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. Twenty seconds later, Detroit’s Captain Dylan Larkin scored to make it 2-0 after DeBrincat picked off the puck and got it to Larkin. One minute and 12 seconds after Detroit’s first goal, the Red Wings scored again when the puck bounced to Robby Fabbri off a blocked shot and he found the back of the net. The Devils had six turnovers in the opening frame that led to chances against.
“I turned the puck over twice and they went down and scored,” Tyler Toffoli shared post-game. “Definitely not good enough. I’m very disappointed in myself and in my game tonight. I take the blame on two of those goals.”
The Devils shook things up with the lines in the second period. Erik Haula, Michael McLeod and Curtis Lazar were put together to start the period. Tyler Toffoli, Jack Hughes, and Jesper Bratt were moved together, and Ondrej Palat, Dawson Mercer, and Alexander Holtz made up the third line.
New Jersey took a delay of game penalty and Moritz Seider’s blast from up high cut through traffic and went in right before the end of the power play to give Detroit a 4-0 lead. The Devils didn’t get their first power play opportunity until the final minutes of the middle frame; however, the Red Wing’s penalty kill kept the top power-play off the board. New Jersey was unable to score on their second power play opportunity, in the third period, as Detroit's penalty kill came up big both times.
Vitek Vanecek played all but 29 seconds of the game and had 24 saves on 28 shots.
The Devils have one day before a back-to-back, giving them limited time to fix things around before it's puck drop again.
“We have to get back to our game, we’re doing it to ourselves out there,” Marino shared. “All these turnovers in those cruical areas and then it comes back here in our face. We have to get back to simplifying and playing behind them.”
“We have to put this one behind us and turn this ship around real quick,” Toffoli shared. “It’s not an excuse to be missing guys and all that. We have to play with the guys in the lineup and have to play hard every single night. I think we’ve definitely shown that we can do it but we got to put it together here.”
The Devils fall to 8-8-1 on the season and suffer their fourth loss in the last five games.
