Introduction

The New Jersey Devils won their second straight game last night against the St. Louis Blues. The Devils potted five goals in the third period, which set a season-high for goals in a period. Those five goals propelled the Devils to a total of seven in the game for the second consecutive game and for the fourth time this season. For how underwhelming this year has been, the goal-scoring has definitely gotten a bit better from previous years.

Recap

First Period

The first period started off great for the Devils, with New Jersey tallying the first eight shots of the game and the first two goals. P.K. Subban got things started early with a bomb from the point. About 15 minutes later Michael McLeod spliced his way through the defense to make it a 2-0 game. Shortly after, that the Devils were caught puck-watching and Klim Kostin scored his third of the season for the Blues to make it a one-goal game.

Second Period

The period started off with a ton of pressure from the Blues and a goal. Jon Gillies lost track of a rebound in front and it was tapped home by Brayden Schenn to even the game. As the period was winding down, a shot from the point by Justin Faulk squeaked just past the goal line. Just like that, the tables had been turned on the Devils and they were down by one after two.

Third Period

The third period was where it got crazy. The Devils didn’t actually get a shot off until about seven minutes into the period. After they got that first shot though, New Jersey was off and running. Yegor Sharangovich scored off a two-on-one from Nico Hischier to tie it. Following that, it was Hischier who returned the favor on a rush started by Sharangovich to give the Devils their lead back with about eight minutes left.

There wasn’t another goal until just over two minutes to go when Jimmy Vesey ripped a backhander far-side to make it 5-3. Shortly after that, Schenn got his second of the game to make it 5-4. However, Jesper Boqvist outraced a Blue to the puck with the net empty to make it 6-4. The Devils weren’t done yet though as Nico Hischier potted his second of the game into another empty net with 10-seconds left to put an exclamation point on a great Devils’ win.

Game Notes

• Nico Hischier collected three points in the third period to now put him up to 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 total points in his underrated season. He has now scored four goals in his past three games. It’s definitely nice to see him stepping up with Jack Hughes on the Covid List.

• The Devils won in St. Louis last night for the first time since 2008. For reference on how long ago that was, Zach Parise, TJ Oshie, and Jamie Langenbrunner were the three stars, the movie Iron Man was only six months old, and Barack Obama was just elected president. It’s been a while, but it’s fun to see the Devils win at Enterprise Center again.