Green goal pushes Wings over Devils in OT
NEWARK, N.J. -- Defenseman Mike Green scored with 1:42 remaining in overtime to give the Detroit Red Wings a 5-4 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Friday night.
The goal came with the teams skating 4-on-4 instead of 3-on-3, as overtime began with the Red Wings on a power play that carried over from regulation.
Center Frans Nielsen scored twice for the Red Wings, who also received goals from center Dylan Larkin and right winger Anthony Mantha.
Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard allowed one goal on three shots before leaving the game in the first period with a lower-body injury. He was replaced by Petr Mrazek, who stopped 13 of 16 shots.
Defenseman John Moore, center Adam Henrique and left wingers Michael Cammalleri and Pavel Zacha scored for the Devils.
Devils goaltender Cory Schneider made 28 saves.
The first period started well for the Devils, as Moore scored on the team's first shot at 6:01 to make it 1-0. Center Travis Zajac found Moore in the left face-off circle for the one-timer that beat Howard to the short side.
Twenty-seven seconds later, the Devils were awarded a four-minute power play that proved to be the best thing to happen to the Red Wings in the first period.
Sloppy play in their own zone led to the Devils allowing a shorthanded goal to Nielsen at 7:23, then Nielsen struck again 13 seconds after second minor penalty expired to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. Left winger Justin Abdelkader helped set up both goals.
Howard exited the game with 8:29 to go in the period and was replaced by Mrazek.
The Devils bounced back with two goals in the second period. Cammalleri's fifth goal tied the score at 2 with an individual effort that included winning a puck battle in the corner and driving to the net for a backhand shot that ended with him sweeping a shot off the skate of Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson and into the net at 4:06.
Zacha made it 3-2 with a power-play goal 1:50 later. The 19-year-old took a cross pass from right winger Beau Bennett and buried a wrist shot from the left face-off circle for the Devils' second power-play goal in as many games after going nine straight contests without scoring.
Larkin sent the game to the third period tied at 3 by scoring with 1.2 seconds remaining in the period. He took a pass from right winger Gustav Nyquist, sliced to the middle and slipped a low shot past Schneider for his fifth goal.
NOTES: Red Wings G Jimmy Howard, who opened the season in the back-up role, made his eighth start in nine games. ... Detroit scratched LW Drew Miller, D Alexey Marchenko and D Xavier Oullet. ... Devils LW Taylor Hall skated on his own Friday morning. He underwent surgery Nov. 16 was expected to miss 3-4 weeks, although coach John Hynes said that Hall is ahead of schedule. "He's incredibly fit and really takes care of himself and looks like he's on his way back in a good way."... New Jersey scratched LW Reid Boucher and D Jon Merrill.