Blues offense stifled by Devils during 4-1 loss

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Dec 17, 2024

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — If you wanted to find real estate in the New Jersey offensive zone on Tuesday night, it was not going to be at Enterprise Center.

During a 4-1 St. Louis Blues loss to the New Jersey Devils, St. Louis struggled to generate much offense all game, even in the third period while facing a multi-goal deficit. The Blues didn't register their second shot of the third period until there was 10:30 remaining. At that point, the Devils already had 12 shots on goal, and they had the big lead.

Ondrej Palat, Stefan Noesen (power play), Brenden Dillon and Jesper Bratt (empty net) scored for the Devils. Jordan Binnington made 24 saves for the Blues, and Jordan Kyrou scored to extend his goal streak to a career-long five games.

"They play well," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of the Devils before the game. "They track back, they defend their own zone well. They attack your net well. It's a good hockey team. It's a good challenge for us."

The Blues passed their last test against the Devils, beating them 3-0 on the road before Thanksgiving by riding a first-period outburst and hanging on for the win. But New Jersey attacked with pace, and they defended their space to limit any hopes St. Louis had of repeating the result from Newark in November.

Dillon's goal at 3:38 of the third period appeared to glance off Jake Neighbours' stick and past Binnington. It was just the second time under Montgomery that the Blues trailed by three goals (also in Edmonton on Dec. 7).

Kyrou scored with 9:32 left in the third period during an extra-attacker possession as Montgomery aggressively pulled Binnington early facing a big deficit.

As the Blues tried to claw back into the game in the third period, they had to do so for a time without Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich after a post-whistle scrum resulted in minors for both players (and for New Jersey's Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnathan Kovacevic).

Bratt sealed the game with an empty-netter with 3:16 remaining.

The Blues finish their pre-Christmas schedule with road games at Tampa Bay, Florida and Detroit.

Noesen jams one in

Devils forward Stefan Noesen extended the New Jersey lead to 2-0 with 6:51 remaining in the second period, as he was able to stuff in a goal on the edge of the crease during a power play. Noesen had about five cracks to slip the puck past Binnington, and the puck slid underneath the lifted goal frame but had previously already crossed the goal line.

It was Noesen's 14th goal of the season, which would be the most on the team if he played for the Blues.

The Devils were put on the power play when Nathan Walker took a tripping penalty in the corner of his own zone. When Noesen scored, the Devils received a fresh two-minute power play as Cam Fowler was whistled for cross-checking Nico Hischier at the post.

During Sunday's win over the Rangers, the Blues were not called for a single penalty.

On the same page

The Devils scored first on Tuesday night with 4:47 left in the first period, as Palat ripped a slap shot that glanced on Binnington's shoulder and into the net behind him. Palat won a race to the puck after Luke Hughes banked the puck off the opposite end boards from his side of the red line.

The play took coordination and communication from the Devils to create a scoring chance instead of result in an icing call, as Hughes timed his cross-corner dump-in well.

While Palat did not beat Justin Faulk to the hashmarks in the Blues zone — often how icings are called — the rule book states that "the determining factor is which player would first touch the puck, not which player would first reach the end zone faceoff dots." Palat outskated Walker to the puck shortly after Binnington had his arm raised signaling for an icing call.

The goal capped a tight-checking opening chapter of a tight-checking game that saw the teams combine for just 12 shots on goal.

The two best chances for the Blues came via Kyrou and Dylan Holloway in the first period. Kyrou flung a shot from the point that appeared to glance off someone and then kiss the post. It would have extended his goal streak to five games, which he later did anyway.

Holloway, meanwhile, split the defense with about three minutes remaining in the period for a partial breakaway on Jacob Markstrom. But Holloway's backhand attempt through Markstrom's legs was shut down.

Alexey Toropchenko delivered a crunchy hit about four minutes into the game, as he buried Johnathan Kovacevic along the boards behind the Devils net.

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