Despite Devils Comeback Win Over Red Wings, Sheldon Keefe Not Satisfied

Despite struggling in his last start, New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe went back to goaltender Jacob Markstrom on Friday in Motor City against the Detroit Red Wings on the first night of back-to-back games.

Wednesday night’s struggles continued for the Swedish netminder, however, the Devils’ power play buoyed New Jersey to a 5-4 victory.

Amid defeating the Red Wings, the Devils lost forward Tomas Tatar to injury in the first period for the remainder of the game.

RELATED: Devils Forward Injured vs. Red Wings, Status Unclear

Let’s get to how it happened.

Devils Recap

The Devils found themselves down early when the Red Wings scored two even strength goals under 10 minutes into the first on the sticks of Vladimir Tarasenko and Lucas Raymond. However, the Devils struck back on the power play twice. First, Dougie Hamilton roofed a shot over Cam Talbot’s right shoulder. Then, after a failed coaches challenge for goaltender interference on the Hamilton goal, the Devils went back to the man advantage. Luke Hughes set up Timo Meier for a rocket of a one-time chance.

The Red Wings broke the tie in the second period after Tyler Motte redirected a point shot by Ben Chiarot. However, Nico Hischier and Stefan Noesen tied and then gained the lead heading into the second intermission.

On a four-minute power play to start the third period, Jack Hughes netted the Devils’ fifth goal in the latter half of the double minor. Justin Holl struck back moments later to bring the game back within one. However, the clock ran out, and the Devils hung on to get back in the win column.

Jacob Markstrom made 26 saves on 30 shots, turning aside 2/3 shots on Detroit’s power play, and three additional shorthanded shots.

Takeaways

Markstrom Struggles Early

In an emotional tilt after the events which transpired in their last meeting with the Red Wings, the Devils needed to get off to a hot start. Unfortunately, the exact opposite happened and Markstrom couldn’t buoy New Jersey.

The Devils put themselves down a man early after Brenden Dillon cross-checked Michael Rasmussen. The Devils did a decent job on the penalty kill, keeping tight formation in the slot to limit high-danger shots. However, Tarasenko found a bit of ice in the left circle and beat Markstrom glove side.

The problem is that it was a very savable goal. Tarasenko didn’t lift the puck high enough, and he beat Markstrom – who was unscreened – above the pad and below his glove.

According to Moneypuck, that shot had just a 6% chance of being scored, and it found the back of the net.

As if the first goal wasn’t bad enough, the second one was worse. Raymond’s wrap around chance hit a couple of bodies at the top of the crease and bounced by the Devils goaltender. However, Markstrom’s post-to-post was quite slow on a very savable goal that had just a 1% chance of crossing the goal line.

Markstrom did bounce back a bit to make a handful of key saves. Yet, he finished the contest with -0.52 saves above expected.

Screen the Goalie

If it weren’t for Stefan Noesen and the power play, the Devils were going home empty-handed.

Noesen might have scored the Devils’ fourth goal, but it was his work as a net-front presence, taking Red Wings goaltender, Cam Talbot’s eyes away from him, that were arguably his biggest contributions.

On the Devils’ first power play goal, Noesen recognized Hamilton gaining ice for a shot attempt. The Devils forward leapt in front of Talbot who was out of the blue paint and completely screened the Detroit netminder from seeing Hamilton’s shot, which ended up picking a corner.

Later in the third period, Noesen parked himself right back atop Talbot’s crease, taking Talbot’s sight again, leading to Hughes’ game-winning power play goal.

Resilience Isn’t the Recipe

There’s no doubt that the Devils’ comeback win was a resilient one.

New Jersey found themselves trailing twice before they finally took a lead late in the second period.

Ultimately, the Devils were able to hold off the Red Wings and although Keefe is happy with the effort to come back, he’s seeking a more complete game from his team.

“Obviously don’t like the way we started this game tonight. That’s something we have to address, clearly,” Keefe started. “I loved that our power play went out and reset the game for us. From there, we get down again early, we fight our way back and give ourselves a lead. Then build that lead… It’s a resilient effort for sure. Not how you want it to go. But, a lot of good things come out of it.”

Quick Shifts

• Timo Meier led the Devils with five shots. Paul Cotter, Nico Hischier, and Luke Hughes all registered four shots each.
• Erik Haula won 60% (6/10) faceoffs Friday afternoon.
• Jack Hughes led all Devils skaters with 21:50 time on ice.

For more Devils news, visit New Jersey Hockey Now, subscribe to our YouTube and like our Facebook page.

Follow us on 𝕏:

@NJDHockeyNow, @JamesNicholsNHL, @NickNatale10

And on Threads:

@JamesNicholsNHL