DETROIT _ Looking for a response after an embarrassing loss earlier in the week, the Devils didn't exactly take it to the Detroit Red Wings, but they didn't go quietly either. But in the end, the lineup shuffling and the goaltending change did little to spark the Devils in a 4-3 loss to the Red Wings on Thursday night at Little Ceasars Arena.
Cory Schneider made his first NHL start of the season and came out on the losing end stopping 27 of 30 shots, but the blame doesn't solely lie on the goaltender. The skaters in front of him left him out to dry. If anything, Schneider kept the Devils within striking range.
You can't score goals if you don't have the puck and New Jersey barely touched the puck throughout much of the game, as was evidenced by the shot totals through the first two periods. The Devils managed to tie the game in the second and took a lead in the third but it was short-lived as the same goal scorer, Sami Vatanen, was whistled for interference 10 seconds after putting New Jersey ahead and the Red Wings capitalized on the power play.
The Devils had as good of a chance as any with a power play with 50 seconds left on the clock. But it didn't take long for the Red Wings to put the game on ice with a short-handed empty-net goal. It took exactly seven seconds for Trevor Daley to send the puck down the ice into the empty net.
Marcus Johansson netted one with four seconds left in regulation, but it was too little too late.
Vatanen put the Devils up 2-1 at the 3:20 mark of the third period with power play blast past goalie Jimmy Howard. But Dylan Larkin drew an interference penalty putting Vatanen in the box and the Red Wings on the power play
Michael Rasmussen banked a shot off the crossbar and behind Schneider at 4:59, erasing the Devils' lead.
At 12:50, Justin Abdelkader scored a shorthanded goal to put the Red Wings up 3-2 and drop the dagger on the Devils. Abdelkader tucked a rebound past Schneider off the rush, effectively deflating the visitors, who have now dropped the first two games of a seven-game road trip.
Coleman netted the equalizer for the Devils late in the second period. The revamping of the second line paid off when Travis Zajac set him up with a feed from behind the net and he hammered it home.
Martin Frk's power play snipe at 7:54 in the first period put the Devils behind 1-0.
It's tough to know just what to make of the Devils right now. They've gone 1-4-1 since their 4-0-0 opening stretch and they still seem to have an inability to close games in the third period. The Devils are clearly trying to recapture that same magic from that early October stretch but it seems to be eluding them as they chase the puck and chase other teams in the standings.
