The Blues hand the Devils their first road loss of the 2023-24 season.
On Nov. 3, the New Jersey Devils' comeback efforts fell short as the St. Louis Blues earned a 4-1 victory at Enterprise Center. After losing Jack Hughes in the first period, the Devils were rattled.
"I'm not going to lie, we were a little dejected when it happened," Curtis Lazar said.
The Devils surrendered the first two goals of the game in the middle frame, but Lazar was able to pull his team within one for a 2-1 score at the start of the third period. It was the 28-year-old's first goal of the season.
Blues' goaltender Jordan Binnington stood strong in the third period, stopping all 16 shots faced. St. Louis would add two empty net goals to secure the win.
Five Things
1. Jack Hughes Suffers Upper-Body Injury
With 11 minutes remaining in the opening frame of the New Jersey Devils-St. Louis Blues game, Hughes crashed hard into the boards.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pound center was still down on the ice when a trainer reached him. Hughes skated to the bench on his own and remained there while the staff looked him over. When it was time for his line to jump back onto the ice, he joined them for a 59-second shift, and there was a collective sigh of relief.
Shortly after that, though, he went down the tunnel, and ahead of the third period, the team announced he would not return.
After the game, head coach Lindy Ruff said, "(Hughes) will be evaluated tomorrow (and) we'll see where we're at."
Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman said, "The word on Jack Hughes is it might take a day or two to figure out how serious things are/aren't."
2. First Career Point-Streak For Alex Holtz
The 21-year-old earned the primary assist on Lazar's goal to extend his point streak to two games. It's the first career point streak for Holtz. In 10 games this season, he has five points (three goals, two assists).
3. Dawson Mercer
Offensively, Mercer has been snake-bitten to begin the 2023-24 campaign. After ten games, he is still searching for his first point of the season.
Against the Blues, he played 19:06 and was elevated to the first line after Hughes' injury. He finished the game with four shots on goal, which is the most he's earned in a single game all season. Shooting the puck more is something Mercer has wanted to focus on and last night was a step in the right direction.
4. Power Play Went 0-for-1
For only the second game this season, the Devils did not score a power play goal. They only had one opportunity in the first period when Alexey Toropchenko got called for high-sticking against Jesper Bratt.
New Jersey is 0-2-0 when not scoring on the man advantage this season.
5. New Jersey Ran Into a Hot Goaltender
Binnington made 33 stops on 34 shots and finished the game with a save percentage of .971. He made key saves for his club, including impressive stops on Tyler Toffoli and Bratt.
"It was a hard-fought game," said Binnington. "That's a good team over there. I think we made a lot of big plays. Guys stepped up and kind of trusted each other, trusted the system."