DETROIT _ The Red Wings might still have a lot to play for, but they didn't show it enough Tuesday against New Jersey.
One day after the trade deadline, and seeing former teammates Andreas Athanasiou and Mike Green dealt to Edmonton, the Wings lost to the Devils 4-1.
The loss of two of their better offensive players didn't help the Wings. The power play wasn't good up until Valterri Filppula's third-period goal, the Wings only had 28 shots total, and the Wings couldn't solve Devils goalie Cory Schneider for the majority of the evening.
Oh yes, Cory Schneider.
Typical of this Wings' season, Schneider won his first game after losing his previous seven decisions (1-6-1) this season, the veteran entering this game with a 4.65 goals-against average and terrible .852 save percentage.
But, sure enough, Schneider looked real good Tuesday, making several key stops in the second period as the Devils extended their lead from 1-0 to 3-0 on two power-play goals.
Filppula's goal was his sixth, converting a post-to-post pass from Tyler Bertuzzi at 9:40 of the third period, cutting Jersey's lead to 3-1.
Joey Anderson, Jesper Bratt (power play), Kyle Palmieri (power play) and Nikita Gusev (power play) had Devils (25-27-10) goals, as New Jersey completed the season sweep against the Wings with the help of three power-play goals.
The Wings (15-46-4) lost a third consecutive game, and in their latest skid, have now lost seven of eight games.
And, in this season of mind-blowing Red Wings statistics, here's yet another one.
Tuesday's loss continued a season-long misery for the Red Wings against the Metropolitan Division.
The Wings haven't beaten a Metropolitan team in 20 games (0-19-1) this season.
Now without Athanasiou and Green, and already lacking much offensive firepower, the Wings lost forward Robby Fabbri in the third period. Fabbri was involved in a knee-on-knee collision with Jack Hughes, last year's No. 1 overall pick out of the Plymouth Township-based United States National Development Team Program.
Fabbri struggled to get up before skating gingerly to the bench and going directly to the locker room. The Wings had no further update.
Bertuzzi caught Hughes with a hit in the corner in the final minute of the game, only to see New Jersey's John Hayden cross-check Bertuzzi near the head. Bertuzzi, Hayden, and Jersey's P.K. Subban all were involved physically late, with Hayden getting a misconduct for his cross-check.
The Wings had another slow start, getting outshot 17-9 in the first period, while Anderson gave the Devils the lead.
The start, and overall outing, was disappointing considering the talk over the last two days of having much to play for over these final 17 games.
Be it contracts, positions on the team, NHL careers, general manager Steve Yzerman and coach Jeff Blashill both stressed the importance of the last six weeks.
"All year it has been like that, everyone understands that," said forward Dylan Larkin of the importance of the remainder of the schedule after Tuesday's morning skate. "Everyone's getting an opportunity to play probably above what you are (normally slotted). There's an opportunity, every single guy understands that.
"We're here to take advantage of that and see what guys are made of. This whole season has been a character test, it's been a character-building season."
The Devils, behind young talents such as Hughes, Palmieri and Nico Hischier, though, looked the more inspired team and capitalized on the power play.
Gusev's 11th goal, at 13:40 of the third period, was the crusher, just four minutes after Filppula had scored to give the Wings some life.
The Devils' top line of Hughes, Hischier and Palmieri was impressive, and definitely form a nucleus for the future.
"They've got a really good rush game," said Blashill, after the morning skate. "They've got some young, super talented players. Obviously, with Hischier and Hughes, those are two of the best young players in the league. They're both very, very good in different ways. They do a really good job of creating white ice off the rush, which can make your tracks and your sorts really hard as you come back into your end."
