
In the last regular-season game of the 2024-2025 season, the New Jersey Devils will face the Detroit Red Wings at The Rock. Check out the matchup in this game preview.
In the last regular-season game of the 2024-2025 season, the New Jersey Devils will face the Detroit Red Wings at The Rock. Check out the matchup in this game preview.
The Essentials
Matchup: Detroit Red Wings at New Jersey Devils
Date: April 16th, 2025
Time: 7:30 PM ET
Broadcast: TNT, TruTV, Max, FDSNDET
Listen: Devils Hockey Network
The Last Devils Game: The Devils played the Boston Bruins on Tuesday and won 5-4 in overtime. Timo Meier opened the scoring, finding a gap in the Bruins’ coverage and snapping a perfectly placed shot below Jeremy Swayman’s blocker from the circle. Boston answered about a minute later when Morgan Geekie one-timed a pass from David Pastnak by Jake Allen. Pastrnak tallied a backhand goal of his own 30 seconds into the second period. The Devils scored the following three goals, two of which were on the power play (finally!). Stefan Noesen and Dawson Mercer notched the PPGs, while Simon Nemec scored his second of the year at even strength. The Bruins came back by scoring before the end of the second period and again early in the third to tie the game. Thankfully, Brian Dumoulin had the answer in overtime, wiring home a well-placed wrist shot from the high slot. Jake Allen saved 20 out of 24 shots in the victory. To read more about this game, check out Jackson’s recap.
The Last Red Wings Game: The Red Wings hosted the Dallas Stars on Monday night and won 6-4. The Wings’ defenseman Albert Johansson opened the scoring early in the first period, walking into the slot and putting a sniping wrist shot into the top corner of the net. Lian Bichsel had the Stars’ answer a few minutes later when he deked Cam Talbot out of the net and snuck behind him to tuck the puck in the net. Alex DeBrincat put Detroit back in front, swatting home a backhanded pass from Patrick Kane. Dallas tallied two goals in the second period, including a shorthanded goal by Colin Blackwell. The Red Wings scored three goals in the first half of the final frame, including a deep wrister from Moritz Seider that beat Jake Oettinger on the power play. Wyatt Johnston added a goal for the Stars just after the midway point of the third, but Vladimir Tarasenko notched an empty-net goal to secure the win. For more on this game, check out NHL.com’s Gamecenter.
The Last Time: New Jersey played Detroit back on November 29th. The Devils defeated the Red Wings 5-4 thanks to the power play. It was a busy first period. Vladimir Tarasenko started the scoring early in the first period with a power play goal, and Lucas Raymond added another before the halfway point of the opening frame. The Devils’ power play answered in the second half of the period with goals from Dougie Hamilton and Timo Meier. Much like the first period, Detroit opened the second period scoring with a tip-in goal by Tyler Motte. Nico Hischier exhibited some quick hands to wrist home a shot from the slot near the midway point, and Stefan Noesen outbattled a host of Wings players at the net front to swat home a puck later in the frame to send the game into the second intermission with the Devils leading 4-3. Jack Hughes sniped a wrist shot home on another power play early in the third. Detroit answered about 20 seconds later on a shot from Justin Holl that snuck through Jacob Markstrom, but the Devils would hang on. Markstrom stopped 25 shots in the win. For more on the victory, check out Jackson’s game recap.
Recent Momentum: The Devils (41-32-7) are finishing the 2024-2025 season on a roller coaster, having won five of their last ten games. Their playoff position has been essentially locked up for some time now, so that is where the focus has been lately (or so I’d hope). Detroit (38-35-7) is finishing the season neck-in-neck with the eliminated New York Rangers. Both teams have 83 points. The Red Wings have won five of their last ten as well.
Lineups
Detroit Red Wings
According to Ansar Khan’s pregame post, the Red Wings played the following lines and pairings versus Dallas on Monday.
#RedWings lines vs. Stars:
Berggren-Larkin-Raymond
DeBrincat-Kasper-Kane
Rasmussen-Compher-Tarasenko
Smith-Motte-Watson
Edvinsson-Seider
Chiarot-Petry
Johansson-Holl
Talbot starting. Mrazek backup.
Oettinger for Dallas. pic.twitter.com/9tROVZyOXe— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) April 14, 2025
New Jersey Devils
According to Amanda Stein’s pregame post, the Devils played the following lines and pairings against Boston.
Here’s how #NJDevils took their rushes this morning ahead of facing Boston:
• Noesen back in
• Foote and McLaughlin draw in
• Same defense
Allen pic.twitter.com/sbpw1hIY0V— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) April 15, 2025
What to Watch For
Detroit’s Season Stat Leaders
According to NHL.com, Alex DeBrincat leads Detroit in goals with 37, while Lucas Raymond is the leader in assists with 51 and points with 78. DeBrincat padded that total with a goal against the Stars. Defenseman Ben Chiarot has spent 67 minutes in the penalty box to lead the team. Fellow defenseman Moritz Seider, unsurprisingly, holds the title for the most hits with 209 (per Statmuse). Not anywhere close to Paul Cotter, who has the Devils franchise record with 245 hits so far according to Statmuse. Regarding goaltending, Cam Talbot has played the most games in net for the Red Wings and has the highest save percentage at .902 per Natural Stat Trick. Talbot allows an average of 2.91 goals per game and has saved 7.16 goals above expected.
Continue to Build Up the Power Play
The Devils’ power play had been stone cold until Tuesday night when they went two-for-two against the Bruins. They hadn’t had the most opportunities in the three games between August 8th and 13th versus the Islanders, Penguins, and Bruins (again). New Jersey only had one power play in the games versus New York and Boston (and failed to convert in both games), but they wasted three opportunities against the Pens too. Stefan Noesen and Dawson Mercer battled in front of the net to get power-play goals against Boston to finally get some positive traction with the man advantage. The Red Wings have the worst penalty kill in the NHL, only killing 70 percent of their penalties. It will provide the Devils with the opportunity to continue build momentum. While wins and losses don’t impact their positioning, it’s the last chance for the Devils to work on the man advantage before the playoffs, where missed opportunities will cost them much more.
Austin Watson Called Up for Detroit
On April 8th, the Red Wings called up veteran Austin Watson from their AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. The physical forward has been a leader for the Griffins, ranking third on the team in goals, second in points, and fifth in assists at the time of his recall to Detroit. Watson’s penalty minutes are the area of concern for the Devils in the final game year. He has racked up 96 penalty minutes to lead the Griffins. The last thing the Devils need is to get hurt taking a shot from this guy. It could be worth starting Big Mac to discourage any nonsense.
Your Thoughts
Are you concerned about the power play at this point? Should the Devils be working on anything else in the final game of the year – other than ensuring a complete 60 minutes of effort? Would you start Big Mac? Let’s get the playoffs started already! Thank you for reading, and GO DEVILS!!!