Devils Defeat Blues in OT

As the game was over earlier today in the Devils’ 3-2 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues, the MSG+ broadcast team of Steve Cangialosi and Ken Daneyko discussed how there was a time when the Devils were just trying to hang on against the Blues – not get blown out.

As Cangialosi put it: “how the worm has turned.”

The Devils swept the season series from St. Louis for the first time in a season where the teams have met more than once since 2002-03. And this year is no joke. The Blues are legit contenders out of the Western Conference and a real test for the Devils.

The Blues, however, were playing the back half of a back-to-back. They lost last night to the Islanders on the Island and lost on Wednesday to the Rangers at the Garden. That made this a trip of horrors for them as they came east after a win over the Chicago Blackhawks to start their road trip.

But the Devils still needed this. They were starting a stretch of a four game homestand (all against Western Conference teams) and then a western Canada road trip that will feature three more games against Western Conference foes. They would also be facing some of the best in the West, such as the Colorado Avalanche.

This was a much-needed pick-me-up. And needed to follow up their 7-4 win in February over the Blues in St. Louis to show that that was not a fluke.

The Devils lineup featured some changes from the last few games. Colton White was a healthy scratch along with Mason Geertsen and Christian Jaros. Ty Smith, a healthy scratch for the last three games, inserted back in on the blueline today, pairing with PK Subban.

Also, Pavel Zacha was back after missing Friday against the Rangers with a non-COVID related illness.

Everything else was the same, including going with Nico Daws in net again. Daws, who will likely get some rest this week with the Devils now playing a schedule of a game every other day, made 19 saves on 21 total Blues shots for a .905 save percentage on the afternoon. He was equal to both the Blues’ only shorthanded chance and their only power play shot (St. Louis went 0-for-1 as a team with the extra man). At five-versus-five he stopped 17 of the Blues’ 19 shots.

The Blues started Ville Husso between the pipes. Husso got peppered with 33 total Devils shots and stopped 30 of them for a .909 save percentage on the day. He turned aside all four Devils power play shots – New Jersey went 0-for-5 as a whole on the power play. Husso faced 29 shots at even strength and was equal to 26 of them.

It was “Youth Hockey Day” at Prudential Center with the rink packed with kids and the players coming to the game dressed in New Jersey high school jerseys to show their support for the upcoming high school hockey tournament at the arena.

On the ice, they were in their black third uniforms.

In addition, the MSG+ broadcast featured special guests Martin Brodeur (pregame) and Cam Janssen (second intermission). Marty has history with both clubs as both a player and an executive while Janssen played for both teams. Marty’s interview with Erika Wachter and Bryce Salvador skewed more towards the state of the Devils from a management point-of-view while Janssen was more about reminiscing about his glory days (and the fact that he was traded by the Devils to the Blues for Salvador) in his two stints with New Jersey.

Smith made his return to the lineup and immediately made an impact.

He got the Devils on the board just 9:47 into the game when Jesper Bratt skated the puck into the St. Louis zone, cut through the middle of the ice and passes back to Smith, who was trailing in. Smith let loose a one-timer off of Bratt’s perfect feed and found the back of the net.

That goal, which made it 1-0 Devils, was Smith’s first goal since November 9, 2021 – his second of the season – and Nico Hischier notched the secondary assist.

A near miss for the Blues as Ivan Barbashev put the puck in net behind Daws at the end of the period. It was reviewed as the buzzer had seemed to sound prior to it going in.

It was a formality as the replay showed that the game clock ran down a full almost two seconds before the puck crossed the goal line. It was such a foregone conclusion that the MSG+ broadcast was already going to commercial (complete with the bumper music playing) and the Devils were being show leaving the ice just as the referee was making the official call of no goal.

It remained 1-0 Devils heading into the first intermission.

In the second, Yegor Sharangovich was robbed by Husso in close off of a nice feed from Jack Hughes to begin the period.

The ret of the frame belonged to Dawson Mercer.

Mercer doubled up the Devils lead at the 9:26 mark of the second when Jimmy Vesey got a great outlet pass that took him through the neutral zone. He passed to Hughes, who got into the St. Louis zone and chipped the puck to Mercer, who scored off the nice feed from Hughes.

Hughes had worked to draw in the two Blues defenders and make room for Mercer who was all alone with Husso when he scored.

Mercer followed that up with a tussle with Torey Krug later on in the period that, while not an official fight – more of a wrestling match along the boards near the Devils bench – he has yet to have an actual fighting major at the NHL level. The two would take matching roughing minors, but it showed Mercer’s tenacity and willingness to stand up for himself.

The third period, though, would not be as kind to the Devils – favoring instead Krug and the Blues.

It began just 2:08 into the period when Jordan Kyrou recovered the puck in the St. Louis defensive zone and passed to Vladimir Tarasenko. Tarasenko gained the New Jersey zone and found an unchecked Krug as he trailed behind, took a pass and scored to make it 2-1 Devils.

As Daneyko pointed out, Devils coach Lindy Ruff was none too happy on the goal because he felt that Hughes was interfered with in the Devils zone, which led to the blown coverage that led to the goal.

No call was made and we played on.

It would only take about three and a half minutes for the Blues to get another.

At the 5:44 mark, Kyrou would score on an almost identical play but flipped to the other side.

Tarasenko hit Brayden Schenn with an outlet pass out of the Blues zone and he fed Kyrou as Kyrou was streaking up the right-wing side, trailing, to score on Daws behind the play. That goal, Kyrou’s 100th NHL point, tied the game at two.

From there and for the next few minutes, it was just end to end action for both teams. The best the Devils had to show for it, however, was when Nathan Bastian hit the outside of the post late in the period.

New Jersey would nearly have the game served to them on a silver platter when Krug was called for holding Bratt with exactly two minutes to go in regulation. The Devils would finish the game on the power play and have a chance to win it.

Unfortunately for them, the Blues would kill that and time ran out at the same time, so with the game knotted, we were off to overtime.

The Devils wasted no time in the extra session.

Just 1:12 in, Hughes fought along the near boards to finally kick the puck to Zacha. Zacha passed to Dougie Hamilton, cutting backdoor. Hamilton roofed a shot over Husso and scored his first OT goal as a Devil to give New Jersey the full two points and send the crowd home happy.

The Devils outshot St. Louis 33 to 21. They also won 44-percent of the game’s faceoffs with Hischier winning 45-percent of his draws to lead the Devils regular faceoff takers.

The Blues took a dozen penalty minutes as a team while the Devils were assessed four. The Devils were outhit 22-13, while still staying in the game physically with a heavy Western Conference team.

Blocked shots saw the Blues with 15 and the Devils with eight. Team giveaways had St. Louis finish with nine and the Devils with 11.

Hughes, with his two assists, was the only Devils’ player to register multiple points on the afternoon.

Damon Severson was once again the ice time leader for all Devils skaters. He finished with 25:05 total (7:08 on the power play and 1:30 on the penalty kill). Jonas Siegenthaler actually led the defensemen in shorthanded time with 1:55 logged out of his 18L58 of total ice time.

As for the forwards, Hughes led in total TOI with 22:44 (which included 6:56 of power play time). Sharangovich led the forwards in PK time (1:08 out of his 19:11 – while still logging 3:16 of PP time).

Shots on goal were led by Sharangovich and Mercer with four each. Bastian, Vesey, Michael McLeod, Jesper Boqvist and PK Subban led in hits with two apiece. Blocks were led by Sharangovich, Tomas Tatar and Ryan Graves with two each. Personal giveaways were led by Hamilton with four while Sharangovich was the leader in takeaways with three.

Next up, another stiff Western Conference test as the Colorado Avalanche – the top team in the West – come into Newark. Puck drop for that game against a true Stanley Cup contender is 7 PM and it will be shown on MSG+

We will have coverage for you following the conclusion of that game on Tuesday – the beginning of a run of games where the Devils will play every other day for the rest of the week.

Until then, have a great rest-of-your-Sunday and a good Monday everyone!

Devils Win in St. Louis for First Time Since 2008

The Devils finished up a three-game road trip in St. Louis tonight, an arena that they had not won in since December of 2008.

And although this did not seem to be a recipe for the Devils coming away with a “W” (the Blues have not lost a whole lot in regulation at home this season), get that “W” the Devils did. They defeated the Blues 7-4 to put together their first two-game winning streak of the 2022 calendar year. They have also scored seven goals in back-to-back games.

The Blues were well-rested. They had not played since January 29, before the All-Star break. The lineup from Tuesday that got Montreal coach Dominique Ducharme fired, was completely intact. Lines largely stayed the same.

Janne Kuokkanen, Marian Studenic and Christian Jaros remained the Devils’ healthy scratches.

Jon Gillies got his second straight start, his first back in St. Louis after being traded to the Devils from the Blues back in December. Although his memories in St. Louis may not run that deep, getting his second win as a Devil still has to feel good.

He made 27 saves on 31 total Blues shots for an .871 save percentage. He stopped the Blues’ lone shorthanded shot and all four of their power play shots. St. Louis was kept 0-for-4 on the man advantage. At even strength, he stopped 22 shots out of 26.

Opposing him was Jordan BInnington, who made 22 saves on 27 total Devils shots. He finished the night with an .815 save percentage, stopping the Devils’ lone power play shot in the process. New Jersey went 0-for-3 on the power play as a team. At five-on-five, Binnington was 21-for-26.

The Devils, as mentioned, had not won in St. Louis since December 2008, but their last win over the Blues actually came in the team’s last meeting on March 6, 2020 at Prudential Center. That was a 4-2 Devils win that was, as per MSG’s Steve Cangialosi, Cory Schneider’s last game with the Devils and, to date, his last game in the NHL.

The Devils got the scoring started 2:12 into the game when New Jersey worked the puck down low to Andreas Johnsson, who took a shot at Binnington. Binnington made the save and the puck was partially cleared by a Blues player. He did not get all of it, however, and it made its way to PK Subban at the point. Subban stepped into the loose puck and blasted a shot that beat Binnington cleanly (albeit with Dawson Mercer acting as a screen in front).

Subban got the credit for the goal, unassisted, and it was 1-0 Devils.

New Jersey doubled up their lead later in the period at 15:07 gone by when Michael McLeod took a pass from Damon Severson in the Devils zone. He turned up ice, speeding up the left-wing side. As he cut in on the Blues’ net, he was hooked down by Robert Thomas. A delayed penalty was called, but McLeod stayed with it, moving slightly around Binnington to deposit the puck around him to negate the delayed penalty and give the Devils the 2-0 lead. Jimmy Vesey had the secondary assist.

Exactly 30 seconds after the McLeod goal, at 15:37 gone, St. Louis cut the Devils lead in half.

Their answer came when the Blues kept the puck in the Devils zone and worked it to Torey Krug at the point. Krug passed to Oskar Sundqvist down low, who quickly moved it to Klim Kostin, all alone in the slot. Kostin scored to make it 2-1, the score that would take us into the first intermission.

For the Devils, the second period looked like it may become their downfall again.

It began 5:13 into the middle frame when the Devils actually won a faceoff in their own zone. They were unable to move it out of the zone, however, and it was turned over to Ryan O’Reilly. O’Reilly passed back to Colton Parayko at the point. He shot and Gillies fought off the blast. The puck then just kind of plopped down next to the near side of the net with Gillies not aware of its position. Brayden Schenn won a foot race to tap it behind it Gillies and that tied the score at two.

The Blues would take the lead on a strange one about ten minutes later.

At the 15:03 mark of the second, Pavel Zacha tried to attempt a breakout for the Devils, passing the puck through the middle of the ice instead of just working it out past New Jersey’s blue line.

The puck was intercepted at the blue line by Justin Faulk and he shot on the Devils net. The shot hit the post and trickled behind Gillies. It was initially called a no goal on the ice as the puck did not seem to completely cross the goal line.

A review from the Situation Room in Toronto showed that it did, in fact, fully cross the line and the decision was overturned very quickly. The puck had gone over the goal line on its edge so most TV replays did not do a good job of showing it cross, but it did count. The goal came unassisted for Faulk. St. Louis now had a 3-2 lead to take into the third period.

In the third, the Devils came alive.

Just 9:08 into final period, Nico Hischier took a fast zone breakout pass from Ty Smith. Nico was hit in the very middle of the ice with Smith’s pass and broke in with Yegor Sharangovich on a 2-on-1. Hischier made a great backhand pass to Sharangovich, who finished the feed to tie the game up at three.

Hischier would notch one of his own at 11:34 gone by when the teams were playing at 4-on-4.

A few seconds before, at 10:59, the Blues’ Niko Mikkola had hit Jesper Boqvist along the left-wing boards in the neutral zone. It was not a dirty hit by any means, but Boqvist was rocked for a second.

Mercer stepped in to come to Boqvist’s aid and he and Mikkola tussled a bit but did not fight. Both went off for roughing and the teams were set to play at 4-on-4.

Sharangovich had given the puck to Subban, who carried the puck up the right side into the St. Louis zone. Sharangovich went towards the Blues net while Subban made a cross-ice pass to Hischier after PK sold his own shot to draw the Blues defenseman towards him.

Nico took the pass and finished, putting it behind Binnington, who could not get across his crease fast enough to stop Hischier’s shot. That gave the Devils back the lead at 4-3. It also extended Nico’s goal-scoring streak to three games.

Vesey would give New Jersey a two-goal cushion at 17:41 gone by in the third period. The Devils had just finished killing off a penalty a few seconds prior and Vesey took the puck from Jonas Siegenthaler in the Devils zone. Vesey then skated the length of the rink, making a nice move around the Blues’ defense, moving to his backhand as he moved to the right. He got a lot on the shot and it blew past Binnington to make it 5-3 Devils. Zacha had the secondary assist.

That Vesey insurance goal would prove to be very valuable as St. Louis scored at the 18:17 mark.

Krug got the puck to Pavel Buchnevich, who weaved the puck up the rink towards the Devils zone.

He took it himself deep and then centered to Schenn in the slot. Schenn reached out and tapped the the Buchnevich pass by Gillies to make it 5-4 Devils.

Things were getting tight and the Blues pulled Binnington right after play restarted off of Schenn’s second goal.

Jesper Boqvist iced the game here by scoring into the empty Blues net off assists from Severson and Gillies (the Devils goaltender’s first point in a New Jersey uniform). It was then 6-4 Devils.

Following that empty netter, Binnington was pulled a second time, allowing Hischier to score his second goal of the game on  a rare second empty netter to finally give us our final of 7-4. Sharangovich had the lone assist on the goal.

For the second game in a row, the Devils had scored seven goals on their opponent.

The Blues narrowly outshot the Devils 31-29. The Devils won 55-percent of the game’s faceoffs with Zacha leading the centers with a 62-percent personal winning percentage.

The Devils took ten penalty minutes total as team while the Blues amassed eight.

Although the reason Mason Geertsen was playing his second straight game – his first back-to-back games in the lineup since the end of December – was largely to counter the Blues as a “heavy” physical team, the Devils were still massively outhit 25 to four.

St. Louis edged New Jersey in blocked shots with 14 to the Devils’ 12. The Blues had 15 team giveaways while the Devils had seven.

Ice time saw Severson log 24:39 total (3:06 of power play time and 3:12 of PK time) while Ryan Graves led the defensemen in shorthanded time with 4:34 logged out of his 21:41 of total TOI.

For the forwards, Hischier led in total time with 19:07 logged (including 2:54 on the PP and 2:43 on the PK).

Hischier (two goals, one assist, three points), Vesey (one goal, one assist, two points), Sharangovich (one goal, two assists, three points), Severson (two assists) and Subban (a goal and an assist, two points) all achieved multi-point nights.

Shots were led by Siegenthaler who had five. Severson had two hits to lead in that category. Jesper Bratt had two blocks to lead that column. Personal giveaways were led by Graves with three while personal takeaways were led by McLeod with five.

Next up, the Devils return home for a game on Super Bowl Sunday with the Pittsburgh Penguins at 1:30 PM.

We will have a recap of that game for you up right after the MSG+ broadcast. After that, we’ll settle in to enjoy some football and, possibly, savor a Devils win over a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, just as they achieved tonight.

Until then, enjoy the rest of the week everyone!