RECAP: Red Wings ‘stuck together and didn’t quit’ to beat Devils, 5-3

DETROIT -- The 19,515 fans that packed Little Caesars Arena on Thursday were treated to a highly entertaining night of hockey, featuring 60 minutes of back-and-forth action, special teams galore and a handful of heated brawls between the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils.

And when the dust settled, the Red Wings emerged victorious, prevailing over the Devils, 5-3, for their third straight win.

“The entire night had some good emotion for us, which is great,” Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. “I’m not saying needed, but it’s a little bit of a quiet room. You never want your guys to be who they’re not, but even after the first [period], those two quick goals, we had a lot of chatter and positive energy.”

Goalie Cam Talbot made 37 saves for the Red Wings (4-3-0; 8 points), while netminder Jacob Markstrom finished with 19 saves for the Devils (5-4-1; 11 points).

“They’ve been great,” captain Dylan Larkin said about the recent play of Detroit’s netminders. “Probably the story of the difference from last week.”

Capitalizing on its first power play of the night, Nico Hischier’s shot from the slot trickled through Talbot to put New Jersey ahead 1-0 at 12:11 of the first period.

Christian Fischer first got Detroit on the board at 18:09 of the first period, cleaning up a loose puck that Andrew Copp pulled away from the wall and sent on net to tie it 1-1. Then at 18:34, Alex DeBrincat buried a wrister from the slot to push the Red Wings ahead 2-1.

Fischer’s first goal of the season and DeBrincat’s third tally of the campaign came 25 seconds apart in the opening frame, marking Detroit’s fastest pair of tallies since Michael Rasmussen lit the lamp twice in a 13-second span against the San Jose Sharks on Dec. 7, 2023.

New Jersey took advantage on the power play again when Erik Haula, who was on the doorstep, tipped Timo Meier’s shot to tie it 2-2 at 4:59 of the second period.

That score lasted until 9:46 of the third period, when captain Dylan Larkin redirected Patrick Kane’s shot for a man-advantage goal to retake the lead for the Red Wings 3-2. Lucas Raymond picked up a secondary assist on Larkin’s team-leading fourth goal of the season.

“I think [Kane] saw me,” said Larkin, who has five points (four goals, one assist) in seven games this season. “He waited a split second to let whoever was on him get his stick of the way. He zipped it right in the spot that it needed to be for me to be able to tip it and get it elevated. We work on it a little bit, but that’s just a great hockey play by him.”

The Devils came right back and knotted things up on Hischier’s second man-advantage goal of the game, making it 3-3 at 11:39 of the third period.

A power-play tally from Kane put the Red Wings back in front 4-3 with 3:32 remaining. Assisted by Raymond and DeBrincat, the 35-year-old forward scored his second goal of the season with a wrist shot from the point that beat Markstrom.

DeBrincat said Detroit’s power play, which finished 2-for-4, came up big on Thursday. It was the Red Wings' first game with multiple man-advantage goals this season.

“We’ve been struggling a bit, so to see it go into the net a couple times is huge for us,” DeBrincat said. “I think we can keep that going, and hopefully win some more games like this.”

Rasmussen sealed the hard-fought win with an empty-net goal for the 5-3 final. Simon Edvinsson picked up the lone assist on Rasmussen’s first goal of the season, and 50th of his NHL career.

J.T. Compher was sidelined because of a flu bug that’s been circulating inside the Red Wings’ dressing room, so Detroit had to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen against New Jersey.

“That was a huge win for us,” Lalonde said. “We’ve had some success here with 11 [forwards] and seven [defensemen]. You can get some rhythm with it and kind of mix up some matchups. It’s tough on the other coach at times, but it’s good when you have your top-two centers. I never felt comfortable with the flow all night, but I give our guys credit in that they used that emotion and battled.”

Larkin echoed his head coach.

“We stuck together and didn’t quit,” Larkin said. “That was the main part about tonight.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will kick off a weekend back-to-back set on Saturday afternoon, first playing the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Lalonde on Talbot

“Excellent, really good. Two really good performances he’s given us. Great goaltending, I think that gives us three or four straight excellent starts.”

Larkin on the role that emotion had in Thursday’s victory

“It was everything tonight. Guys like Fisch and Benny just dragging us into it, and we needed that. We were 11 [forwards] and seven [defensemen] tonight. As a forward you play a lot and you’re into the game, but I thought those guys really drove us into the battle.”

Larkin on the role that emotion had in Thursday’s victory

“It was everything tonight. Guys like Fisch and Benny just dragging us into it, and we needed that. We were 11 [forwards] and seven [defensemen] tonight. As a forward you play a lot and you’re into the game, but I thought those guys really drove us into the battle.”

Larkin on where Detroit is at offensively at this point of the season

“It’s still a work in progress. I feel we’re on the outside a little too much, and obviously the Islanders game is a different story, but tonight I didn’t feel like it was an issue. It was a fast, offensive game. We did a great job playing defense, but I thought we got chances and generated high-quality chances.”

Larkin on Fischer’s impact

“He does things every night that aren’t on the scoresheet and contributes all over the place for us. He’s unbelievable in the locker room, the guys love him.”

DeBrincat on the difference a week makes

“I think we stuck to the process. Maybe a couple periods here and there we weren’t playing our best. I think we were playing the systems right and doing everything to the best of our abilities, it just wasn’t ending up going our way. I think now, we just stuck to the process and it’s going our way. If we can keep doing that and listening to the coaches, just keep putting the team first, I think we’ll be in a good spot.”