by ST. LOUIS – It was clear early on Tuesday that the game between the St. Louis Blues and New Jersey Devils would be a close and limited offensive game.
The first half was a strong indication that this was going to be a game where there would be no easy ice.
Whichever team blinked first will have a hard time overcoming a deficit.
The Devils struck first and ultimately limited the Blues to one of their worst shooting performances of the season with a 4-1 victory over the Blues, splitting the season series at Enterprise Center between the two teams.
Ondrej Palat, Stefan Noesen, Brenden Dillon and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils (21-10-3), while the Blues (15-15-3) limited them to 20 shots on goal.
The Devils’ stifling defensive structure negated another goal from Jordan Kyrou, who tied the highest point of his HL career with a point in his fifth straight game and 12th straight game on home ice.
The loss dropped the Blues’ home record to a disappointing 6-8-1, something center Robert Thomas said needs to improve earlier in the day.
Let’s move on to Tuesday’s three takeaways:
* The Blues started checking well, the checking goals became easy — The Blues had a good life going into this game, and that was a good sign against a very good hockey team.
New Jersey only had four shots on goal by the end of the first period. Neither team gave an inch to the other and it was becoming clear that it was going to be one of those low-scoring games where the first team that flinched would have a hard time.
The Devils broke through what Blues coach Jim Montgomery called a broken play when Luke Hughes’ snap pass from his own side of the red line went over the end boards directly into the path of Palat, whose one-timer grazed the top of Jordan Binnington’s right shoulder Shelf:
“It’s a broken game,” Montgomery said. “They tried to hit the guy through the middle of the ice. I think it went through his legs or under his stick, away from the front wall, they had speed on the outside. The guy made a good shot.”
“I thought our first 15 minutes were pretty good. I thought our intensity was there, I thought we were a little bit faster than them. They scored that goal and the air came out of the balloon.”
“They check really well. They meet us at points. Every time we tried to advance pucks because we weren’t anticipating the offense, we just skated hard enough to get to those points. They were there and fought us off. You” “We are a good check team.”
The Blues seemed a little surprised by the goal and started to make some breakthroughs
“We made it easy to get checked,” Montgomery said. “Jersey did a great job controlling it. Their habits and details were superior to ours after they scored the first goal. And here we have to become a little more resilient.”
Defender Colton Parayko added: “We had a good start and also a good second goal. I don’t necessarily think we let that goal dictate the game, but obviously they got their second goal on the power play, which was great.” .
“Of course they definitely play a close game. I thought they played well. We definitely had some good opportunities.”
* Special Teams – In a close game like this, special teams would be crucial – and limited.
There were no power plays in the first half, but when Nathan Walker was brought down by Tomas Tatar and conceded a goal at 7:06 of the second period, the Blues had to pounce.
Not only did they not pounce, but they also had no attempts to shoot. The Devils were the ones gaining momentum.
At 12:41, Walker himself suffered a tripping error, and Noesen made it 2-0 28 seconds later at 13:09, stuffing a puck from Binnington’s outstretched skate into the near post to really put a stranglehold on the game:
“I think my stick got stuck somewhere,” Parayko said. “I tried to pick up my stick and it got caught under something. I tried to stay available and relaxed, but obviously he got stuck and had no way to get there.”
* No pushback at the start of the third period – When down by two goals, conventional wisdom is that the Blues will come with a push and the Devils will play preventive defense.
Barely.
New Jersey actually played like it was two goals down, controlling the game in the Blues’ zone and putting a hammerlock on the play when Dillon got a good rebound as his shot from the left boards bounced off Jake Neighbors’ stick and flew over a shielded Binnington to make it 3-0:
“There was no resistance,” Montgomery said. “That was disappointing. We have to engage our audience.”
“In my experience, it was always difficult to play in St. Louis because the fans are wild. I thought we had some really good hits early on. I didn’t think it was enough to be a little louder and purer in the game.”
Parayko agreed.
“We should have attacked harder in the third half,” he said. “Frustrating of course, but I think we continue to go in the right direction as a group. At least we’re discovering more habits and little details like this. They’re obviously a good team and they took a few chances and changed the game, but all in all we obviously have some things to build on.
Montgomery sensed he had to do something, so he pulled Binnington midway through the period, and Kyrou scored from the left circle, blasting a shot through Markstrom at 10:28 to make it 3-1:
There was life. The Blues finally had some bite and had quick chances for a second, but too little, too late.
“We (finally) felt some emotions,” Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich said. “We scored a goal and after that we had some good substitutions and (a) scrum. We had a couple of good chances and just missed the net or something. Good game to learn from.”
“…We have to learn to win these games.”
