Devils’ streak stopped in OT
The Devils couldn’t keep even the dregs of the league at bay, as Dylan Larkin and the young Red Wings rallied on the road.
Larkin scored 4:09 into overtime, Jonathan Bernier stopped 38 shots and the Red Wings beat the Devils, 3-2, on Saturday at Prudential Center.
Larkin got his eighth goal of the season when he converted a 2-on-1 break with Anthony Mantha. It was Detroit’s fifth victory in its past six games.
“It’s awesome and feels good coming in here after games and we’ve come back from behind, finding ways to win instead of last year, when it was going the opposite way,” Larkin said. “Seems like now it’s a different way every time.”
Luke Glendening and Michael Rasmussen also scored for the Red Wings.
The Devils had won two in a row. Pavel Zacha and Blake Coleman scored for the Devils, and Keith Kinkaid made 28 saves.
The Devils dominated the opening period, out- shooting the Red Wings 15-4 and taking the lead on Zacha’s first goal of the season at 11:35. Zacha dropped to one knee to snare a cross-the-slot pass from Jesper Bratt and drive a one-timer by Bernier.
The 21-year-old Zacha, the No. 6 pick in the 2015 draft, was sent to the minors earlier this month, with the goal of improving his shot selection and net presence. “It was one of the things they wanted me to work on,” Zacha said. “When you play with the players I play with, they are always trying to find you. It could help me a lot to score more goals, and help the team.”
Detroit played better at the start of the second and generated several good chances. Kinkaid denied Larkin on a prime scoring opportunity, and Trevor Daley hit the post.
“The majority of the game we did some things we wanted to do,” Devils coach John Hynes said. “At the end of the day, we made some mistakes and they wound up in our net.”—