Red Wings Rebound After Sleepy Start, But Fall 5-4 In OT To Devils

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It was a bad-news, good-news, bad-news kind of night for the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday against the visiting New Jersey Devils.

The bad news first: Detroit struggled to find its legs in the opening period and was badly outshot. The good news? The Red Wings battled back from 1-0, 3-2, and 4-3 deficits to tie the game each time.

Unfortunately for Detroit, the final bit of bad news was that Team USA gold medal hero Jack Hughes scored his second overtime winner of the season, lifting the Devils to a 5-4 victory at Little Caesars Arena. 

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The Devils found the back of the net first thanks to former Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues, who was acquired over the summer in the deal that sent goaltender Jacob Markstrom to Florida.

Late in the period, forward Emmitt Finnie was sprung by a lengthy pass from Michael Brandsegg-Nygård and beat goaltender Jake Allen from the face-off circle, tying the score at one.

Both players then connected with one another early in the second period, as Finnie Brandsegg-Nygård on a two-on-one rush, who buried the puck past Allen for his second goal in three games. 

The Devils would respond with a pair of goals from former Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha and Nico Hischier (PPG) before Alex DeBrincat tied things up with a shot that eluded Allen through a screen.

Jesper Bratt restored New Jersey's lead soon afterward in similar fashion, as his shot made it through traffic and past Gibson. 

Double dipping again was DeBrincat in the third period, beating Allen from a sharp angle for his second tally of the game and fourth of the season. 

While the Red Wings picked up a point, they were unable to secure the second one; Hughes took a feed from Bratt and broke in alone on Gibson, beating him with a blocker side shot.

Gibson finished the contest with 32 saves on 37 shots, while Allen stopped 23 of 27 Detroit shots. 

The Red Wings continue their three-game home stand on Thursday against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, who are winless so far to begin the season. 

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