Defensive dominance continues; New Jersey Devils stifle St. Louis Blues in a 4-1 win

The New Jersey Devils’ team defense has been on a roll lately. The team participated in the evening’s competition against St. Louis Blues after holding their opponents to fewer than 20 shots on goal in three straight games, a thoroughly impressive performance. The Blues managed to snap that streak, but it took about 57 minutes to do so. Before then, the Devils produced another defensive gem in a 4-1 win over the Blues.

It didn’t actually start well for New Jersey, as St. Louis dominated puck possession to open the contest. There wasn’t much in the way of dangerous chances, but the Devils simply couldn’t find a way to generate any kind of attack. But they weathered the early storm and grew stronger as the game progressed. New Jersey began to figure out the Blues’ defense in the latter half of the first, then played a high-quality second period and then stepped on St. Louis’ neck in the third. At one point, shots on goal were 10-1 in the Devils’ favor in the third period, which was even more impressive when you consider that they entered the final frame with a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Ondrej Palat in the first period and Stefan Noesen in the second. Noesen’s tally came on the power play, which finally broke through after an extended drought (more on that below). Incidentally, tonight was Noesen’s 400th game in the NHL. Congratulations to him on that milestone and for finding a way to celebrate in style with a goal.

It wasn’t a perfect night for the Devils’ defense as Jacob Markstrom had to make a handful of tough saves throughout the game. But aside from a few rushing chances, high shots and a partial breakaway, New Jersey really put the screws to St. Louis. In the end, the Devils held the edge in 5-on-5 shot attempts, 52-38 and expected field goal percentage, 52.95%. The latter number may not seem all that impressive, but the Blues generated a lot of xG in garbage time after Brenden Dillon added to the lead in the third and Jesper Bratt posted an empty net goal.

But make no mistake, while it wasn’t perfect, New Jersey’s defense came to play. According to Natural Stat Trick, at 5-on-5 they allowed just 1.59 total xGA and 1.69 total in all situations. Markstrom was there to bail them out when they broke, and the offense did enough to secure the win.

I was very pleased with what I saw of the Devils tonight. The attack could have been a little more crisp, but the fact that they stuck to their game and remained patient was huge. In the past, when this team struggles offensively, they have been out to force plays and let their opponents dictate how the game should be played. But tonight, New Jersey stayed true to their structure and played a tough, physical game when needed until the offense showed up. Things even got a bit chippy towards the end of the contest as the Blues seem to take very bad losses. St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn threw a tantrum near the end of the game and went out of his way to counter and eventually tackle Jonas Siegenthaler to the ice. Even when a linesman tried to pry Schenn off of Siegenthaler, Schenn refused to budge for a good minute or so, and when they were finally separated, Schenn threw a punch at Siegenthaler. That’s obviously losing behavior, and while it’s frustrating to see it happen to a Devils player, it can be seen as a positive: New Jersey got under the Blues’ skin so deeply tonight that even the Blues’ captain couldn’t help but resort to vindictive nonsense.

The Devils played very good defense, frustrated the Blues all night long, stayed patient when their offense was slow to materialize, and eventually skated away with an emphatic win, much to the chagrin of Schenn and his teammates. The Devils’ defense remains a major problem for the rest of the league.

The game statistics: The NHL.com Game Summary | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play by Play Log | The NHL.com shot summary | The Natural Stat Trick Game Statistics

Game Highlights: Courtesy of NHL website

The triumphant return

Curtis Lazar had missed the last 21 games, but he returned to the lineup tonight. It was nice to see him back out there after a knee injury he suffered against the Anaheim Ducks back in late October kept him out for so long.

Lazar reclaimed his spot on the fourth line, where he has been a fixture for New Jersey since coming over at the 2023 trade deadline. So how did Lazar do when he returned? Well, he played 11:41 tonight, collecting a shot on goal and a hit while being kept off the score sheet. According to Natural Stat Trick, Lazar finished with a 5-on-5 xGF% of 43.85%, so not the best night in terms of game flow. But some hiccups should be expected after such a long time away from the game’s action.

It’s nice to see Lazar return. Hopefully he’ll round into form soon and bring the energy and physicality he specializes in back to the fourth line.

Power outage resolved

New Jersey has had an elite power play all season. It makes sense given the staff they have at their disposal. They were first in the league with the man advantage for a while, but thanks in part to a recent cold spell, tonight they finished second in the NHL.

The Devils were in the midst of their first real power play slump of the campaign entering tonight, going five straight games without a power play goal. They were 0-for-13 over that stretch, and to find the last power-play goal you had to go back to Dec. 2, when they went 2-for-4 on the man advantage against the New York Rangers.

But thanks to Stefan Noesen’s second-period PPG, that streak is a thing of the past. It was great to see both the power play in general and Noesen specifically find the back of the net again. It was unrealistic to expect this unit to maintain a mid-30s conversion rate all season, regression would come eventually. But perhaps Noesen’s goal is a sign that the regression is finally coming to an end.

Get The Blues

For some reason the Blues have dominated the Devils for a long time now. It’s just one of those random things you see from time to time, like how New Jersey always seems to win against the Vancouver Canucks and Pittsburgh Penguins in recent years.

The MSG broadcast actually featured a graphic description of how bad it has been: Since the 2008-09 season, the Devils are 6-16-3 against the Blues, including 2-9-1 over their last 12 meetings. That’s an absurd level of futility, so it was nice to see New Jersey pick up a very rare victory over their apparent Achilles Heel.

Next Time Out

New Jersey wraps up their mini two-game road trip on Thursday with a matchup against the Blue Jackets. Puck drop is scheduled for 19:00.

Your thanks

What did you think of tonight’s match? Who overall impressed you the most? What do you expect next against Columbus? As always, thanks for reading!