DETROIT (AP) - Cory Schneider finally won a game, but afterward, much of the discussion was about a couple third-period incidents involving New Jersey rookie Jack Hughes.
Schneider made 27 saves for his first victory of the season, leading the Devils past the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night. In the final period, Hughes was involved in a leg-to-leg collision that left Detroit’s Robby Fabbri shaken up. Then Hughes was on the other end of a last-minute hit by Tyler Bertuzzi that touched off an extended skirmish.
“For some reason, they weren’t happy with the hit from Jack,” Devils interim coach Alain Nasreddine said. “At the same time, I didn’t want to leave Jack on the bench. … We did what we had to do.”
Joey Anderson, Jesper Bratt, Kyle Palmieri and Nikita Gusev scored for the Devils, who won for the seventh time in their last 10 games.
Detroit is 3-16-1 in its last 20. Valtteri Filppula had the only goal for the Red Wings.
Schneider improved to 1-6-1 on the season and won for the first time since March 25 of last year.
“It’s a sense of relief a little bit,” Schneider said. “It’s just one game, so obviously I’d like to have had a lot more here.”
Anderson opened the scoring after just 1:15 in the first period. His initial shot from in close was stopped by goalie Jonathan Bernier, but he scored on the rebound.
New Jersey outshot Detroit 17-9 in the first period but didn’t score again until the second. With the Devils on a power play, Bratt converted on a rebound that bounced to him in the slot.
Palmieri’s goal later in the second also come with the man advantage when he redirected the puck past Bernier for his 23rd goal of the season.
Filppula ended Schneider’s shutout bid with a power-play goal in the third, but Gusev answered with the man advantage on a wrist shot from the slot, making it 4-1 with 6:20 to play.
There was some bad blood toward the end. Fabbri went down on the hit by Hughes. The 18-year-old Hughes was called for tripping, a penalty that led to the Red Wings’ only goal.
“I thought it was a bad hit,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “I thought it was a five, but they called it a two.”
As the game wound down, Bertuzzi hit Hughes after Hughes had given up the puck. Then John Hayden of the Devils came up high on Bertuzzi with his stick. Hayden received a major penalty for cross-checking and a game misconduct.
“It’s great. He’s a team guy. It’s what he does,” Hughes said. “I think the boys were pretty pumped up that he went in there and did that.”
Bertuzzi and Devils defenseman P.K. Subban had to be restrained from each other by officials, and Bertuzzi threw a glove at Subban.
NOTES: The Red Wings, who had traded Mike Green and Andreas Athanasiou since their previous game, recalled D Gustav Lindstrom from Grand Rapids of the AHL. … New Jersey’s deadline work included trading Wayne Simmonds to Buffalo and Sami Vatanen to Carolina. … New Jersey D Will Butcher, who had an upper-body injury last week, was scratched.
UP NEXT
Devils: At San Jose on Thursday night.
Red Wings: Host Minnesota on Thursday night.
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