The Detroit Red Wings did a whole lot right Monday — which is not something you can say about many of their losses this season.
Six of the Red Wings’ eight regulation losses entering the night had come by three or more goals. That was not the case in their 4-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils, in which they controlled play for long stretches.
The problem was, the Red Wings still had a familiar undoing. Early defensive mistakes derailed an otherwise strong performance from the Red Wings, dooming them to a loss and knocking them out of first place in the Atlantic Division.
Here’s what stood out.
1. Coming into the season, one of the glaring issues facing the Red Wings was their blue line. Detroit entered camp with a lot of bodies, but not a lot of clear answers for how exactly their defense would come together. Six weeks into the season, it’s safe to stay that’s still the case, and Monday was certainly an example.
Of the four goals the Red Wings gave up in New Jersey, at least two — and perhaps three — looked wholly avoidable.
The first came on a play in which both Travis Hamonic and center J.T. Compher turned away from an unchecked Timo Meier in the slot, allowing Meier to redirect a point shot past Cam Talbot for the Devils’ first goal. That play was preceded by a Hamonic icing against minimal pressure, which stranded the Red Wings’ skaters out there on tired legs.
The Devils’ second goal, less than 90 seconds after the Red Wings had tied the score, came on the rush, with Nico Hischier getting enough time and space as the trailer (with Jacob Bernard-Docker in coverage) to collect a pass from Jesper Bratt and beat Talbot again.
But the most glaring was New Jersey’s fourth goal, on which Hamonic went back to collect a routine dump-in but failed to clear it, shooting it right into the stick of Devils forechecker Dawson Mercer. That sent the puck skirting out to a waiting Connor Brown, who beat Talbot to extend the Devils’ lead to 4-2.
What can Brown do for you? pic.twitter.com/nVsKtzBHHU
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 25, 2025
In fairness, at least some blame on that last goal rests with Talbot, who was bizarrely slow to get back in the net after coming out to play the puck. But Hamonic seemed to have time to make a cleaner play on the breakout and instead triggered what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
2. It bears stating that the Red Wings were in a tough spot defensively coming in Monday, missing a key piece in Simon Edvinsson for the second straight game due to illness.
Even then, though, Detroit got a pretty strong performance in his stead from Albert Johansson, who filled in with 20 minutes, and another typically excellent showing from Moritz Seider, who had two assists and blocked seven shots. They also got a much better game from rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka, who had struggled his last time out.
But on a night Detroit put all kinds of pressure on Devils goaltender Jacob Markstrom, outshooting New Jersey 35-19, those lapses outweighed everything else. And it was particularly hard not to notice Hamonic’s fingerprints on two of those goals against.
Red Wings coach Todd McLellan has praised Hamonic as quietly becoming “a really important part of our team,” partly for the things he does on the bench and in the dressing room while mentoring younger defensemen.
The coach clearly values those elements, and that’s likely a big reason Hamonic has played in 14 of Detroit’s first 23 games this season. But the Red Wings have been outscored 13-3 with Hamonic on the ice at five-on-five. And while he is far from the only Detroit blueliner to make some confounding errors this season, the Red Wings are going to need that trend to even out if they continue to play him this often — even if the alternatives aren’t exactly sure things either.
3. This was one of the better attacking efforts the Red Wings have had in a road game this season. Their top line of Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond and Emmitt Finnie did a great job extending possessions and really drove Detroit’s comeback push. Larkin scored midway through the third to give the Red Wings a shot at tying it late, but Markstrom was outstanding in securing the win for New Jersey.
Detroit also got a much-needed power-play goal from James van Riemsdyk, who has been quiet statistically to start the season but had a great play at the net front on the Red Wings’ second goal.
Detroit’s power play hasn’t been quite as dangerous this year as it was last season, when it was a top-five outfit, but the additions of Sandin-Pellikka and van Riemsdyk certainly have made their second unit more intriguing.
Now the key is to get just a bit more production from the top unit, which has still largely been good — and was dangerous Monday — but not as automatic thus far.
James van Riemsdyk scored his second goal of the season on the power play. (Ed Mulholland / Imagn Images)
4. The Red Wings showed one other important trait: a willingness to make their presence felt.
It started early, after J.T. Compher was assessed an early boarding penalty for a hit on Hischier, and Compher answered the bell immediately by fighting Stefan Noesen shortly after Compher had left the penalty box.
Then, after Larkin’s goal to trim the Devils’ lead, a scrum broke out as the Red Wings celebrated and Detroit’s top line didn’t back down. Another scrum broke out after the buzzer, too, and it was easy enough to connect the dots to a late-game hit from Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler on Raymond, which occurred away from the puck and should have been called for interference. The Red Wings didn’t seek immediate retribution, avoiding a costly late-game penalty, but they didn’t forget it, either.
You can fairly question the significance or value of such things, and it certainly doesn’t change the outcome of Monday’s game. But for a Red Wings team that has been far too easily pushed around in past seasons, that level of fight — both literal and figurative — shouldn’t be taken for granted, either.
5. There are a couple of different ways to look at the bottom line Monday.
On one hand, the Red Wings did play a strong game and showed some intangible elements they will need as the season gets harder. That’s something.
But they once again gave their opponent too much easy offense and left a pretty good road performance without anything to show for it. That’s a missed opportunity, especially against a Devils team missing its best player in Jack Hughes.
In that sense, there’s little contentment to be had from a night that doesn’t yield any help in the standings — especially when the mistakes were so avoidable, and with the Eastern Conference as tight as I’ve ever seen at this point in a season. The playoff picture can look vastly different in a matter of days, which makes any lost points a big deal.
Over the course of a long season, though, the Red Wings can certainly benefit from fewer dramatic swings in their play. And in that sense, the way they performed Monday at least looked like a step in that direction.
