Red Wings win last game in rocking Joe Louis Arena

DETROIT — The final game ever played at Joe Louis Arena, a 4-1 Detroit Red Wings’ victory over the New Jersey Devils, was treated more like a party than a wake.

Loud, boisterous fans tossed 31 octopuses on the ice during the game, a practice that has long been a Detroit tradition.

“The building has to be the best to play in when you get going,” Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said.

After 38 years in Joe Louis Arena, the Red Wings are moving into a new downtown arena next season.

It was as if fate understood the importance of the occasion when Riley Sheahan scored his first goal of the season to give Detroit a 1-0 lead at 7:09 of the first period. He also scored the final goal of the game, meaning he will be the answer to the trivia question: Who was the last NHLer to score in Joe Louis Arena?

Coming into the game he had the possibility of becoming the answer to a different trivia question: Who was the first NHL forward with 100 shots on goal to go an entire season without netting a goal.

“I don’t remember being that happy for an individual scoring a goal,” Kronwall said.

Sheahan said when he walked into the arena, fans had shouted encouragement to him and some said that this would be his night.

His mother, interviewed by television, said she cried when he scored.

“She cries pretty easily,” Sheahan said.

He said the goals were already a blur, although he admitted “it was a huge relief. Unfortunately, it came too late.”

Most Detroit players say their only regret is that they couldn’t give Detroit fans a 26th consecutive season in the playoffs. The Red Wings will be a draft lottery participant this season for the first time. It was not the way the players wanted to spend their final season in "The Joe."

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Several people held signs commemorating the night or Joe Louis Arena history. Some were generic, such as “We love The Joe” and some specific like “Lemieux turtled,” referring to a famous altercation between former Detroit player Darren McCarty and Colorado’s Claude Lemieux years ago.

During the game, fans sang both longer and louder than usual, singing beyond the end of the music. They even did the wave.

Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist said he had “goose bumps” when he saw thousands gathered to greet the team three hours before the game.

“It gives you the chills, especially at the end when everyone was standing up and cheering,” Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader said.

Current Red Wings walked on the red carpet with Detroit greats of the past. “It was definitely humbling,” said Jimmy Howard, Detroit’s winning goalie

Howard said the most memorable moment for him was sharing the final drive to Joe Louis Arena with his father.

Former Red Wings player Tomas Holmstrom read the starting lineup to the players in the dressing room before the game.

It seemed fitting that the Red Wings celebrated captain Henrik Zetterberg’s 1,000th career game in a pregame ceremony. Legendary Detroit captain Steve Yzerman dropped the ceremonial first puck, earning one of the loudest ovations of the night.

Said Abdelkader: “So many memories (in Joe Louis Arena) that guys will hold onto for a long time."