The cards were stacked against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night when the team stepped off the bus at Enterprise Center in St. Louis.
The St. Louis Blues held a record of 10-1-0 in their last 11 home games against New Jersey dating back to Nov. 20, 2010, and earned a 3-0 victory against the Devils weeks ago in Newark.
“We just got to stay with them,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said after his team’s morning skate. “You got to do it for 60 minutes and threaten as often as you can, get to the neutral zone as cleanly as you can, defend quickly, get the puck back … it is the same challenge you face each night; this team is going to make it a little bit harder.”
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The Devils did more than stay with the Blues. The club earned a 4-1 victory in St. Louis for their third straight win.
Ondrej Palat, Stefan Noesen, Brenden Dillon, and Jesper Bratt scored, while goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves on 20 shots.
The Devils scored the game’s opening goal on their fourth shot with 4:47 remaining in the first period. Palat net his sixth goal of the season and third in his last four games after receiving the puck from Luke Hughes.
Defenseman Brett Pesce earned the secondary assist, extending his point streak to three games.
In his 400th career NHL game, Noesen extended New Jersey’s lead to 2-0 on the power play in the second period.
“Even though we hadn’t scored here as of late (on the power play), we have been building momentum off everything,” Noesen said to MSG Networks. “We have had tons of chances. I don’t even know what it looks like in terms of that. We have had so many chances to score and they just hadn’t been going in, and then ones like that actually go in.”
Early in the third period, Dillon scored his second goal of the season, extending New Jersey’s lead to 3-0. Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer caused chaos in front of Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington, allowing the defenseman to get a clean shot on goal.
The Blues beat Marktrom halfway through the third period. Jordan Kyrou scored his 14th goal of the season.
Bratt scored an empty net goal in the game’s final minutes to extend his point streak to four games.
The Devils will travel to Ohio where they will play Damon Severson and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
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