The New Jersey Devils saw their three-game winning streak snapped with a 3-0 shutout loss to the St. Louis Blues at Prudential Center on Wednesday. Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season. Robert Thomas scored and Dylan Holloway had two goals for St. Louis, which improved to 2-0-0 under new head coach Jim Montgomery.
The Devils had won three in a row and 10 of their past 13 games. Goalie Jacob Markstrom, who was honored before the game after appearing in his 500th NHL game last week, made 15 saves on 18 shots in the loss. Center Jack Hughes led the Devils with seven shots on goal.
First Period
The first period couldn’t have gone any worse for the Devils. Just nine seconds into the period, the Blues took a 1-0 lead off an abbreviated two-on-one with Pavel Buchnevich and Thomas. New Jersey captain Nico Hischier was blatantly tripped prior to the play and the referees missed the call, leading to the quick score.
The Blues would take a 2-0 lead at 6:23 on another unfortunate play. St. Louis was wrapping up a power play when Jonas Siegenthaler checked center Brayden Schenn in front of Jacob Markstrom. Schenn was thrust into Devils defenseman Brett Pesce, who fell down on the play. Holloway beat Markstrom for his first goal of the night.
Late in the first, Holloway would strike again for his second goal of the game. It was another one of those plays for the Devils that came down to bad puck luck. Blues defenseman ripped a slap shot that deflected in front and shot up into the air. After bouncing in front of Markstrom, Siegenthaler attemped to clear the puck. It didn’t make it through and instead Holloway was able to beat Markstrom to make it 3-0 at 16:05 of the period.
A couple potential missed calls and some bad puck luck led to a 3-0 hole for New Jersey. The Devils would get a power-play opportunity late in the period but were unable to capitalize, entering the game five for their last 10 on the man-advantage.
The Blues outshot the Devils 10-7 in the period. It was pretty even in terms of Corsi-for percentage (CF%) in the first with St. Louis at 52.94. Things would tilt a bit in the second.
Second Period
The second frame the Devils came alive.
New Jersey began the second period on the power play again after Thomas was called for slashing on Siegenthaler. The Devils were unable to score again on the man-advantage but dominated the period.
The Devils outshot the Blues 11-1 in the second and tiled the ice pretty much the entire frame. New Jersey had a 95.83 CF%. Still, the Devils weren’t able to break through.
Third Period
It was more of the same dominance for the Devils through the early parts of the third period but without anything to show on the scoreboard. The Blues had a stretch of nearly a period-and-a-half without a shot on goal. That ended toward the end of a power play with just under 11:00 left in the period. Markstrom was able to deny Holloway of the natural hat trick with a nice save.
The Blues got another power play with around 8:00 left in the period after Dougie Hamilton was called for holding. The Blues had a few chances but the best during the power play was a shorthanded opportunity by Jack Hughes. He just missed scoring on Jordan Binnington on a wrist shot.
Binnington made a few great saves toward the end of the period to preserve his shutout. The Devils would dominate the third, registering a 81.25 CF%.
Wrap Up
Overall in the contest, the Devils had an expected goals advantage in the game of 4.6 to 1.9. New Jersey also had 81 shot attempts. Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington turned in a masterful performance.
Game Notes
No Timo Meier
The NHL Department of Player Safety suspended Meier one game for his cross-check on Predators forward Zachary L’Heureux on Monday night. It was a game where you look back and you wonder if things might have been different had Meier played. He was in a bit of scoring drought with just two goals in his past 11 games. The Devils were plenty physical but nobody could solve Binnington.
Shake It Off
This was one of those games where you just chalk it up to not having the, “Hockey gods,” on your side. The first goal should have never happened. The second goal you could make an argument Pesce was interfered with before it went in. The third goal there’s not much you can do. When you go down 3-0 in the first period, it’s not easy to get momentum back. New Jersey had plenty of chances to get that key first goal but nothing was working.
The team should view this game as an outlier. They’re still 10-4-0 in the past 14 games and had it not been for that first period, they dominated the rest of the game. Not much you can do.
What’s Next?
The Devils take on the Detroit Red Wings on Friday at 3:00 pm ET at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.