There was a time not too long ago that the Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils were perennial Stanley Cup contenders and champions. From 1995-2003, each won three Cups, with Detroit later adding a fourth in 2008. However, good times don’t last forever.

Each team remained a constant playoff participant after The Cups stopped coming, but then, the inevitable occurred. New Jersey’s fall came first. After losing to The Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, the Devils missed the playoffs for the next five straight seasons and have only been to the dance three times in the last 13 years. The Red Wings held on a little longer, running their consecutive playoff appearance streak to 25 years before failing to qualify in 2016-17. They haven’t gone dancing since. 

The Devils and Red Wings entered Monday night’s contest at Prudential Center with matching 27-point totals. That was good enough for New Jersey to sit in third place in The Metropolitan Division and for Detroit to lead The Atlantic Division. The final score was 4-3 in favor of the Devils. Jacob Markstrom made saves on 32 of the 25 shots he faced, while Cam Talbot saved 15 out of 19.

The score aside, it has been quite some time since both teams were strong contenders. Granted, three-quarters of the season remains and the Devils already have enough significant injuries to last them a lifetime, but there’s no denying that both franchises are getting closer to returning to their former glory. (In a slightly ironic twist, these two teams have only ever faced each other once in the postseason, when the Devils swept the Red Wings to win The 1995 Stanley Cup). 

A quick glance at both teams reveals certain similarities and differences. Each came into Monday night with 13 wins and an ROW of 11. Each has been excellent on home ice and struggled on the road. And both have hit a skid of late, going 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. 

A check under the hood tells more of the story. 

Neither team is particularly dominant at 5-on-5. However, Detroit does hold a slight edge in that department across several important categories. 52.98 to 50.52 in CF%, 25.35 to 26.34 in SA/60, 2.11 to 2.03 in GF/60, 80.30 to 77.78 in HDSV%, 11.79 to 10.64 in HDCF/60 and 11.62 to 11.86 in HDCA/60. Essentially, at 5-on-5, Detroit is a slightly better team in terms of puck possession, limiting shots from the opposition, scoring more, defending high-danger chances, generating high-danger opportunities, and limiting high-danger chances against. 

The table gets turned, though, when it comes to each team’s power-play. New Jersey edges out Detroit 90.36 to 86.15 in CF%, 62.19 to 50 in SF/60, 8.6 to 6.93 in GF/60, 100 to 50 in HDSV% and 31.76 to 27.72 in HDCF/60. Basically, the Devils outchance, outscore, outpossess, and defend high-danger chances better than the Red Wings when on the man-advantage. 

It is trickier to determine which team has the edge when on the penalty-kill. New Jersey has a better CF% (11.70 to 7.80), GA/60 (4.88 to 6.65), HDSV% (86.36 to 72.22) and HDCF/60 (3.05 to 3.02). Meanwhile, Detroit is the better team in SA/60 (46.55 to 51.86) and HDCA/60 (18.14 to 21.36). It’s close, but we have to say the Devils are the slightly better team when down a man. 

In addition to all those metrics, each team has carefully built a core of players that it hopes will lead to another championship. The Devils have Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Luke Hughes, Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier playing key roles for the team. On the other side, Detroit has Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Dylan Larkin, and Alex DeBrincat supplying most of their production, along with a revitalized Patrick Kane. So things are looking up for both franchises. 

The first period got off to a hot start when J.T. Compher boarded Nico Hischier 1:52 into the game. New Jersey’s Captain immediately headed down the tunnel in pain, but managed to return as the power-play was ending. Compher skated in on Markstrom after the penalty expired and was stonewalled by the Devils’ netminder. Stefan Noesen then went after Compher for his hit on Hischier, which resulted in a spirited bout before the Red Wings were given a power-play courtesy of Noesen receiving an extra two minutes for roughing. The Devils killed off that penalty, allowing only one shot on goal and then the game returned to even-strength. 

“I loved the way we stood our ground,” said Head Coach Sheldon Keefe. “And it’s nice to win again.”

Dougie Hamilton was called for hooking Andrew Copp 3:20 after New Jersey killed off Noesen’s roughing penalty. The Devils killed off the penalty and built upon that momentum over the next few minutes. Timo Meier finally cashed in from the slot at 12:54 when he deflected Noesen’s blue line shot past Talbot to give the Devils a 1-0 lead. 

The “Old Chicago Connection” returned to bite the Devils at 16:33 of the first period as Patrick Kane fired the puck on goal before Alex DeBrincat cleaned up the rebound to knot the score 1-1. 

Then, with 2:02 left in the opening period, Nico Hischier finished off a pretty passing play with a snipe from the slot to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. Timo Meier made the initial pass to Jesper Bratt, who fed the trailer, Hischier, for the goal. 1:06 after Hischier’s goal, Cody Glass (in his first game back from injury) deflected Luke Hughes’ shot from the point past Talbot to give the Devils a 3-1 lead. 

“He’s a big-time glue for us,” Connor Brown said about Cody Glass returning to the lineup. “A big-time stabilizer for the third line and for the bottom six. The type of minutes he provides, the way he plays, it’s huge coming back.”

 20 seconds into the middle period, Dougie Hamilton was called for high-sticking Emmitt Finnie, sending New Jersey to its third penalty-kill of the game. Unlike the first two, this time the Devils’ defenders faltered. James van Riemsdyk cleaned up a loose puck with his backhand at 1:30 of the second period to cut New Jersey’s lead to 3-2. 

With 8:38 gone by in the middle period, Dawson Mercer made a nifty pass, behind Detroit’s net, to Connor Brown, who was to the right of Talbot. Brown quickly put the puck past Talbot before Detroit’s netminder knew where the puck was. 4-2 Devils. 

“It was a nice little bounce for sure,” said Connor Brown. “I just saw him (Mercer) hunting and I was trying to forecheck and (it) came right to my stick. Sometimes those are nice ones to get.”

Detroit poured it on in the third period, outshooting the Devils 13-5 and compiling a CF% of 73.17%. Dylan Larkin drew the Red Wings within 4-3 10:12 into the period. Then came The Jacob Markstrom Show as New Jersey’s netminder bailed his team out time and time again, including stacking the pads against Patrick Kane with seconds to go in the game to preserve New Jersey’s 4-3 margin of victory. 

“He was unbelievable,” Jonas Siegenthaler said about Markstrom’s performance. “He was like a ninja back there. When we needed saves, he was there and we had some blocked shots as well.”

After the final horn, chaos ensued with a melee that included Lucas Raymond, Jonas Siegenthaler, Markstrom, DeBrincat and Jesper Bratt, among others. Once it was all said and done, Detroit had actually been the better special teams performer during the game, in addition to owning the ice in the second and third periods at five-on-five. However, at the end of the day, the team who scores the most goals wins, regardless of the underlying metrics and in this instance, that team was the Devils. 

“I thought we sat back a little bit too much in the third,” Connor Brown explained. “Something to learn upon. But, overall, it was a good win. It’s nice to be back on home ice.”

“It’s a good win,” added Markstrom. “A good battle. Everybody blocking shots, everybody contributing. Standing up for Nico there in the first and then we killed that penalty. And then we leave that period up 3-0. So it was a great response for our team. We stuck together and it was a hard-fought battle.”