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 Right winger Johan Franzen had two goals and two assists to lead
the Detroit Red Wings to a 7-4 win over the New Jersey Devils at Joe
Louis Arena on Friday night.
Others having big nights for the Red Wings included his linemates
right winger Gustav Nyquist, with a goal and three assists, and
center David Legwand, with a goal and two assists.
With four of the team's top centers going into the season out with
injuries, Detroit acquired the veteran Legwand — a Detroit-area
native — from the Nashville Predators on Wednesday's trading
deadline to be its No. 1 center.
"Obviously two great players, world-class players and it's an honor
to play with them and we had the puck tonight," Legwand said about
his new teammates and linemates. "We were moving it and I think,
obviously, when you can move and skate it's going to create some
chances and opportunities."
Red Wings coach Mike Babcock certainly appreciated the trio's
efforts.
"Legwand's line was outstanding with Gus (Nyquist) and Mule
(Franzen), really set the tone for us," Babcock said. "We need that
against (Travis) Zajac's line with (Jaromir) Jagr on him. I thought
those guys did a great job for us. We were calm on the bench, did a
real good job."
Defensemen Brendan Smith and Kyle Quincey and left winger Drew
Miller also scored for Detroit (29-21-13), who are in the eighth and
final Eastern Conference playoff spot and bounced back from Thursday
night's 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Joe Louis Arena.
Red Wings goalie Jonas Gustavsson made 21 saves.
Center Adam Henrique scored twice and left winger Patrik Elias and
right winger Jaromir Jagr also scored for New Jersey (27-24-13).
Cory Schneider, who allowed seven goals for the first time in his
career, stopped 25 shots.
"The game spoke for itself ... disappointing," Devils coach Pete
DeBoer said. "We didn't have many people that were very good
tonight."
The Red Wings led 5-3 after a wild second period in which seven
goals were scored.
Franzen gave Detroit a 2-0 lead 5:34 into the middle period when
Nyquist's shot went in off Franzen's glove.
But New Jersey scored three goals in 2:21 to take the lead.
Elias' short-handed goal put the Devils on the scoreboard at 9:23 of
the middle period, Jagr got his 20th goal of the season and 701st of
his career 57 seconds later and Henrique got his 20th goal at 11:44.
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But the Red Wings came right back with three goals of their own in
3:14 in the second period.
Franzen got his second of the game and 15th of the season on the
power play, with 6:13 left. Nyquist picked up his 16th goal, with
4:55 remaining.
"We had the 3-2 lead, they get the power-play goal to make it 3-3,"
Schneider said. "I've got to bear down and make the next save."
Quincey gave Detroit a two-goal lead with his fourth goal, with 2:59
left.
"Started off real well today," Nyquist said. "I think we came out
skating. Then all of a sudden they scored three pretty quick goals
there.
"But it's real nice to see the team bounce back and really work our
way into this game again. Huge two points."
Legwand got his first goal as a Red Wing 4:48 into the third period
and Miller added his seventh goal just over eight minutes later.
Henrique got his second goal of the night with 1:18 left.
Smith opened the scoring with 6:17 left in the first period. He came
straight off the bench and rifled a slapshot from just inside the
blue line past Schneider. It was Smith's third goal and second in
his last three games.
NOTES: The seven goals were a season high for Detroit. ... Franzen
has six goals and five assists for 11 points since the Olympic
break. ...
New Jersey had its penalty reduced by the NHL for trying to
circumvent the league's salary cap on the contract of Ilya
Kovalchuk, who has since retired and returned to Russia. The Devils
originally lost a first-round draft pick in this year's draft and
were fined $3 million. New Jersey will pick 30th in the first round
of the 2014 draft and the fine was reduced. ... Detroit C Darren
Helm expects to miss a week because of vision problems after being
hit in the head on Feb. 27 at Ottawa. ... Legwand played for DeBoer
in junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League's Plymouth Whalers,
who are based in suburban Detroit. ... Devils Ds Andy Greene
(Trenton) and Jon Merrill (Brighton) are both from suburban Detroit.
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