Red Wings haunted by slow start, special team woes in loss to Devils

 

By @StefanKubus –

DETROIT – Despite their resilience, the Detroit Red Wings ended up with nothing to show for it Tuesday night, largely due to their poor showing on special teams.

The Wings fell to the visiting New Jersey Devils at Joe Louis Arena, a 4-3 final. The Devils potted a pair of shorthanded goals in the win. Kyle Palmieri led the way for New Jersey with a pair of goals, while Corey Schenider recorded the win in net.

Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit, while Nick Jensen scored his first career goal. Jared Coreau took the loss between the pipes for Detroit.

“A familiar tune, the power play in the end cost us,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We scored the one goal, but obviously gave up two shorties. We’ve got a 5-on-3 for a minute, you’ve got to score on that, so we got out-specialty teamed tonight and in the end that’s the difference in the game.”

In addition to giving up the shorthanded markers, the Wings also failed to convert on a 1:16 5-on-3 advantage.

“We either change personnel (on the 5-on-3) – I thought they were on the same page, but we didn’t execute, we just didn’t generate enough opportunities out of it,” Blashill said

For Jensen, it was a “bittersweet” goal having it come in a loss.

“It’s always a personal goal that you want to achieve, but it’s never as sweet without the win,” Jensen said. “It’s kind of bittersweet. It’s always a nice goal to get out of the way, but I’d rather win all year and not score than score all the time and lose.”

In the game, the Devils came out and caught Detroit on its heels, scoring twice in the first seven minutes.

Just 1:28 into the contest, a newly-acquired Devils forward put the Wings down early. Plymouth Whalers alum Stefan Noesen popped home his second goal in as many games since being acquired off waivers by New Jersey.

Palmieri then put the Devils up by a deuce with a gorgeous shorthanded goal, as he broke down the left side of the ice one-on-one with Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall, crossed the blue line and then cut across the middle to gain separation from Kronwall. Palmieri then delayed before sliding the puck underneath a sprawling Coreau.

“The first one was, to me, 100-percent unacceptable, 100-percent junk,” Blashill said of the play. “We’ve got a 1-on-1 that we can make a 3-on-1 for us and we float back up the ice, so that’s 100-percent unacceptable.”

With 1:57 to play in the second stanza, the Red Wings’ captain got his squad on the board. Zetterberg took a nice pass from Gustav Nyquist in the high slot and was able to chip a backhand through Schneider to make it a 2-1 contest.

But just before the period ended, Palmieri regained the two-goal lead for the Devils. Palmieri stepped across the blue line coming down the right side and fired a low wrister that beat Coreau on the far side.

Adam Henrique added another shorthanded goal just past the halfway mark of the final frame to extend the Devils’ lead to three. But a minute later on the same power play, Tatar potted his 12th of the season to pull Detroit to within two once again.

With just 4:42 to play, Jensen potted his first career goal by banking a shot off Schneider and in from below the goal line. Nyquist drew the assist on the marker which pulled the Wings to within one.

“We had a decent run before the break, could’ve been better, but we had plans to come in off the break with guys being fresh and everything and go on a run,” Coreau said. “I mean it’s one game, so we’ve gotta come back Friday and play a good game.”