NEWARK, N.J.-- Nico Hischier scored twice for the New Jersey Devils in a 3-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Prudential Center on Wednesday.
Cory Schneider made 31 saves to help New Jersey (22-9-5) win its season-high fifth in a row. Sami Vatanen scored his first goal with the Devils, and Taylor Hall had two assists. \[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Devils highlights\] "It's something we've talked about where [Nico has] had some stretches where the puck hasn't gone in for him, but he's such a strong factor on our team, so for him to get rewarded tonight with two was good," Devils coach John Hynes said of the rookie center. Jimmy Howard made 29 saves, and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Red Wings (13-16-7), who have lost three in a row. "We can't get frustrated," Howard said. "We have to continue to find ways. That's all it comes down to, is you have to find ways to win games instead of coming up on the wrong side."
The Devils killed five Red Wings power plays. Hischier took three of the five penalties. "When you get in those situations, it's nice that that group can really dig in and step up for you," Hynes said. "The penalty-kill guys were a huge difference for us in the game." Hischier's first goal was a deflection of Steven Santini's shot from the top of the left circle at 15:16 of the first period to make it 1-0. Hall got the puck off a Red Wings turnover in the neutral zone and carried it into the offensive zone, then turned back and passed to Santini. Hischier made it 2-0 at 18:22 on a one-timer from the right circle. The puck rolled away from Red Wings forward Darren Helm in Detroit's end. Jasper Bratt took it and passed to Hall, who passed to Hischier for his seventh goal of the season. Abdelkader scored his sixth goal of the season on a snap shot past Schneider to make it 2-1 at 8:09 of the second period. Vatanen scored an empty-net goal with 22 seconds left. The defenseman was acquired by the Devils in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks for forward Adam Henrique on Nov. 30.
"The penalty kill was huge. I think when you look at the game, when you look at some of the penalties we took, the time of the penalties we took, the amount of penalties we took, it's certainly not a recipe for success." -- Devils coach John Hynes "It's not fun losing, but we have to keep doing what we're doing here, the good things. We have to make sure that we're tying a few things up." -- Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg
Need to know
Hall has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past five games. … The Red Wings have scored only one goal in seven of their past 14 games. … Two Devils played for Blashill before they made it to the NHL. Blashill was an assistant coach at Miami University, where Devils defenseman Andy Greene played from 2002-06. New Jersey forward Blake Coleman played for Indiana of the USHL in 2009-10 when Blashill was its coach.
What's next
Red Wings: Host the New York Rangers on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, MSG, NHL.TV) Devils: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday (7 p.m. ET; MSG+, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
