Devils hold off Red Wings, push season-opening home point streak to 9

The Devils (8-0-1) are one of two teams in the NHL (Colorado Avalanche, 8-0-2) without a regulation loss at home, and their nine-game run from the start of a season is tied for second in New Jersey history with the team that went 8-0 with one tie from Oct. 9-Nov. 12, 1987. The franchise record is 10 games (8-0-2) from Oct. 8-Dec. 6, 2016.

Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Connor Brown each had a goal and assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 32 saves, including a few highlight-worthy stops in the third period, to help the Devils (14-7-1) end a three-game skid.

Alex DeBrincat, James van Riemsdyk and Dylan Larkin scored, and Cam Talbot made 15 saves for the Red Wings (13-9-1), who had won four of six (4-1-1).

Markstrom stopped J.T. Compher on a breakaway coming out of the penalty box at 3:58 of the first period. Compher was given two minutes for boarding Hischier, a hit that temporarily knocked the Devils captain out of the game.

Meier put New Jersey ahead 1-0 at 12:54 after deflecting Stefan Noesen’s shot.

DeBrincat tied it 1-1 at 16:33 by putting in a rebound of Patrick Kane’s shot from the point. Kane carried the puck over the red line and DeBrincat was left open in front of Markstrom.

The Devils then responded with two goals in a 1:06 span to retake the lead.

Hischier put New Jersey ahead 2-1 at 17:38 on a one-timer past Talbot’s glove. After Hischier won a face-off in New Jersey’s zone, Meier fed Jesper Bratt, whose no-look pass found a hustling Hischier.

Cody Glass pushed it to 3-1 at 19:04 after deflecting Luke Hughes’ shot from the blue line.

Van Riemsdyk cut it to 3-2 with a power-play goal at 1:30 of the second period when he maneuvered around Jonas Siegenthaler to backhand the puck past a sprawling Markstrom. It was his 1,100th NHL game.

Brown’s tap-in extended it to 4-2 at 8:38 after Dawson Mercer forced a Travis Hamonic turnover and passed to a wide-open Brown.

Larkin made it 4-3 at 10:12 of the third period with his team-high 13th goal of the season.

The Devils held on despite being outshot 13-5 in the third with Markstrom stopping Kane twice and Compher during a six-second sequence, before denying Kane again from the point with 13 seconds left.