Red Wings top playoff-bound Devils to continue strong finish

Jonatan Berggren, J.T Compher, Dylan Larkin, Alex DeBrincat and Marco Kasper all scored a goal apiece Wednesday night for the Detroit Red Wings, who held off a third-period comeback attempt by the New Jersey Devils to earn a 5-2 win in Newark, N.J.

Alex Lyon made 28 saves for the Red Wings (39-35-7, 85 points), who will miss the playoffs for a franchise-record ninth straight season but have won three straight games, all against teams bound for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Detroit is slated to close its regular season Thursday against the Atlantic Division-champion Toronto Maple Leafs.

Erik Haula and Dawson Mercer scored within a three-minute span beyond the midway point of the third period for the Devils (42-33-7, 91 points), who ended their regular season by losing four of their final five games. They begin postseason play this weekend.

New Jersey finished third in the Metropolitan Division and will face the second-place Carolina Hurricanes in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.

Goalie Nico Daws recorded 22 saves.

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton, who missed the previous 18 games with a lower-body injury, returned Wednesday and was a minus-1 while playing 23:42 -- the second-most ice time among Devils players (behind Brian Dumoulin).

Berggren snapped a scoreless tie with 2:53 left in the first. Lucas Raymond's pass to Simon Edvinsson glanced off Edvinsson's skate and to Berggren, who sent a shot under Daws' stick arm.

Another fortunate bounce led to Compher's goal 5:20 into the second. Jeff Petry's clearing pass bounced off the stick of Michael Rasmussen and to Compher, who finished streaking up the right side and fired a shot over Daws' glove.

Larkin scored his 30th goal of the season 2:55 into the third by beating Daws from the slot before the Devils began their comeback bid. Haula redirected a shot by Daniel Sprong for a power play goal with 8:28 left. Mercer then pulled New Jersey within one when he buried the rebound of a wraparound shot by Haula with 5:39 remaining.

But the Red Wings added insurance goals when DeBrincat scored during a 4-on-4 sequence at the 17:09 mark, then Kasper collected an empty-netter with under 10 seconds remaining.

--Field Level Media