DEVILS 2, RED WINGS 1: Petr Sykora's goal with 8:40 left in the third period gave New Jersey its first win in Detroit in 15 years.

Sykora gathered a feed from linemate Patrik Elias while all alone in front of the Detroit goal and fired a shot that eluded Red Wings netminder Jimmy Howard for his 20th goal of the season. It's the 10th time Sykora - who signed with the club after accepting a training camp invite prior to the season - has scored 20 or more goals in a campaign.

The outcome didn't have any impact on the playoff fortunes of the Devils, who were locked into the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference after Philadelphia edged Buffalo 2-1 earlier in the evening. New Jersey will face either Florida or Washington in the first round.

The loss, combined with Nashville's 2-0 triumph over Dallas, dropped the Red Wings into fifth place in the Western Conference race, a point behind the Predators.

New Jersey struck first midway through the opening period. Alexei Ponikarovsky jumped on a rebound from point-blank range and fired it high past Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard for just his second goal in the past 17 games.

Holmstrom drew the Red Wings even on a power play 6:13 into the middle period, converting a slick feed from Jiri Hudler for his 11th goal of the season.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Sykora is the fifth New Jersey player to reach the 20-goal plateau, joining Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, Elias and David Clarkson. ... The victory was the first for the Devils in Detroit since Nov. 6, 1996. New Jersey had lost its last nine regular-season visits to Joe Louis Arena. ... Martin Brodeur turned aside 23 shots to reach the 30-win plateau for the 14th time in his career.