RECAP: By playing ‘pretty smart hockey,' Red Wings earn 3-0 shutout victory in New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. -- From Moritz Seider’s impressive three-point performance to Dominik Shine’s uplifting first career NHL goal to Justin Faulk’s solid debut in the Winged Wheel, there was a lot to like in terms of how the Detroit Red Wings opened their four-game road trip with a 3-0 shutout victory over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Sunday night.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “The group played pretty smart hockey. We checked for our chances and took advantage of a few of their mistakes; a fairly simple game. That’s the way we’re going to have to play. I thought we got real good goaltending from both [John Gibson and Cam Talbot]. I thought Justin Faulk made a big difference. He settled a lot of things down. We got contributions from all the lines. Some guys played 20 minutes, other guys played 10, but the minutes they played were important.”

Gibson didn’t come out for the start of the third period after stopping all 21 shots he faced through the first two, so Talbot stepped in and finished things off by stopping all 10 shots sent his way to help Detroit (36-21-7; 79 points) surpass its road win total (18) from the entire 2024-25 campaign (17). As for New Jersey (32-30-2; 66 points), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves.  

“It’s a good group,” said Faulk, who blocked four shots as well as recorded four hits and had three shots of his own in 19:28 of ice time. “I like the way we play. Guys like to make some plays and play with some pace. It’s a hungry group, I can tell. There’s definitely some veterans in here too that’ll help lead the way with that. I’m excited to be a part of it, get going and then try and play my part.”

Seider gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead just 3:18 into this Eastern Conference showdown, registering his eighth goal of the season and first since Dec. 28. On a strong shift from Detroit’s first line, Andrew Copp cycled the puck along the back boards with Patrick Kane before getting it to the blue line to Seider. With Copp planting himself in front of Markstrom, Seider whipped a long-range wrist shot from the right point into the back of the net.

“We’re going to be in those situations a lot down the stretch, and we just got to play with confidence,” Seider said. “Obviously, it’s nice getting the first one. It relaxes everything a little bit.”

New Jersey applied some strong offensive-zone pressure to start off the second period, but Gibson came up with the stops when it mattered to help that one-goal advantage turn into two. Seider, after taking a pass from Kane, fired a wrister towards the net – a shot from pretty much the same spot he converted in the first -– that James van Riemsdyk tipped in to make it 2-0 at 6:37.

A Middletown, N.J., native, van Riemsdyk has lit the lamp 15 times this season.

“We have a couple of guys who are like godfathers, if you will, and JVR is one of those,” McLellan said. “He’s a fairly calming influence. He’s got a real good hockey acumen.”

And putting a bow on the night's scoring, Shine buried a snap shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle to make it 3-0  at 10:24 of the third period. The assists on Shine’s milestone tally went to van Riemsdyk and Seider.

“There’s a ton of guys like me who work their ass off in the American League,” said Shine, who has compiled 221 points (96 goals, 125 assists) in 521 regular-season contests with the Grand Rapids Griffins. “Do whatever it takes…grind, fight. It just feels really good.”

McLellan said the Red Wings were "really excited for Shiner."

"He's done a lot for the organization," McLellan said. "Not just with our team, but in Grand Rapids over the years. He's hit, he's fought, he's blocked shots, he's done everything for the organization and now he's got a puck to put on his wall and we're all happy for him."

With the win, Detroit moved back into third place in the Atlantic Division.

“It’s a really good response to two tough games that we played at home,” said Seider, who recorded his 10th multi-point game and second three-point performance of the season. “So overall, a great start to the road trip. First two points, I think we responded really well to those kinds of challenges. Just a great effort by everyone, especially our goalies.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will play the Sunshine State portion of their four-game road trip, beginning with a rematch against the two-time defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on Gibson

“He got hit in a bad spot, and didn’t feel good after that happened. He should be fine, I would think.”

Seider on how Detroit closed out Sunday’s shutout victory

“Almost playing with a little bit more swagger, attitude. We’re all great players. We all can handle pressure situations and hopefully, that was good learning. We don’t want to sit back. We want to play on our toes, and I think we did that. We didn’t get away from our game.”

Shine on how the Red Wings approached Sunday’s game

“Obviously, we were disappointed. It starts with the loss to Vegas and then to Florida. I thought we played pretty good, but we didn’t get the result we wanted. So, we wanted to get out here, get to our game and start forechecking.”