Nightmarish first period condemns the New Jersey Devils to a 3-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues

The misery began almost immediately tonight:

You may have noticed in the clip above that Pavel Buchnevich tripped Nico Hischier. It’s hard to miss, after all. But somehow, someway, the referees missed it, and it led straight to a Robert Thomas goal nine seconds into the game.

A few minutes after the Blues took that monstrous break, the Devils had to award a penalty of their own. A “Too Many Men” call that Sheldon Keefe and the entire MSG broadcast team couldn’t believe:

I can’t say I disagree.

New Jersey managed to save the penalty, but in the seconds immediately after it expired, Dylan Holloway scored on a move that appeared to rattle Brett Pesce. Find out why:

At the very end of the clip, the Blues’ color commentator remarks that there are “no devils in sight.” I wonder what that could be!

And it turns out that hole was too deep for New Jersey to climb out of. Holloway added another goal later in the first half, this time without a standout performance that I could find, and the Devils would lose by that final score of 3-0.

I almost always try to avoid drawing attention to the officers. Managing is a thankless job and I don’t really want to attack the people in stripes. In every game, in every sport, there are bad decisions. Sometimes one team benefits more from bad decisions than the other, but hardly ever enough to significantly affect the outcome of a game. But I’m sorry, tonight was the very, very, very rare exception. The officials had a remarkably poor first period tonight and their decisions and non-decisions had a significant impact on the outcome of the game.

Note, however, that I use the phrase “significantly influenced” rather than “determined” when referring to the outcome. In addition to New Jersey suffering some incredibly bad decisions, the Devils also played terribly in the first 20 minutes. They couldn’t string more than two consecutive passes together, they let the Blues have the puck the entire period, they failed to reinforce each other defensively, and Jacob Markstrom’s rebound control on the third goal of the period was atrocious. Actually, Markstrom should have saved one or two of the goals he allowed in the first game.

Let me be clear: the officials significantly influenced tonight’s game in the Blues’ favor, but the Devils also played a terrible first half and it created the perfect storm that led to this evening’s frustrating outcome. As much blame as I or anyone else would like to place on the officials, much blame must be placed on the devils themselves.

If you look at the stats starting in the second half, you’ll see that New Jersey completely steamrolled St. Louis. The Devils outscored the Blues 11-1 in the second period and had a 5-on-5 expected rate of just over 98%, according to Natural Stat Trick. The third period was a little more even, but still clearly in favor of New Jersey. But this is one of those games where the advanced stats just don’t tell the whole picture. St. Louis was perfectly content to stop attacking after the first 20 minutes tonight. They parked the bus perfectly, clogged the neutral zone and middle of the ice, and stifled the Devils’ attack in the final 40 minutes of the contest. New Jersey dominated puck possession in the final two periods of play tonight, but were never in real danger of climbing back into contention. They did manage to create some dangerous chances, but not nearly enough. And no matter what they threw at Jordan Binnington, he answered the call every time.

In the end, the Devils played a terrible first half, a good but not good enough second and third half, and with some “help” from the officials, they allowed St. Louis to score three times in that first half, sinking New Jersey. There was almost nothing to be happy about tonight.

The game statistics: The NHL.com Game Recap | The NHL.com Event Summary | The NHL.com Play-by-Play Transcript | The NHL.com Shot Summary | The Natural Stat Trick game statistics

The game highlights: Courtesy of NHL.com

The Meier-Less cast

I didn’t even mention that Timo Meier won’t be in the squad tonight due to suspension. I’ve complained enough to recap, so I’m not going to get back on my soapbox and talk about how I feel about the suspension. Instead, I’ll focus on what it meant to the lineup that Sheldon Keefe fielded without his highest-paid forward.

Keefe decided to move Paul Cotter to the Hischier line and insert Nolan Foote in Cotter’s place on the third line, leaving the Jack Hughes and Justin Dowling lines intact. Aside from Tomas Tatar perhaps moving to Hischier, I think this was probably the best option. But the problem for me was… this was the best option. Cotter has performed well above expectations so far, but is definitely not in the top 6 of a team with championship aspirations.

This underscores the fact that the Devils are pretty thin when it comes to forward impact. Their powerful strikers Hischier, Hughes, Meier and Jesper Bratt form an outstanding quartet that can compete with everyone else’s top four. However, there is a significant decline after that. Players like Cotter, Ondrej Palat, Stefan Noesen and Dawson Mercer are very nice complementary players, but they cannot provide the offensive firepower that the other four can. So if even one of them isn’t in the lineup, that presents a problem for New Jersey.

After another shutout loss (more on that in a moment), it’s clear that the Devils could use some help in the forward ranks. The trade deadline is still a long way off, but it’s never too early to start scanning the trading market for options. Just ask Adam Henrique and Sami Vatanen in 2017. Who might be available? That’s harder to say. Old friend Taylor Hall appears to be safe in Chicago, and with only one year left on his current contract, it doesn’t seem like it will cost that much to get rid of him. However, given New Jersey’s tight salary cap, I’m not sure how feasible a reunion is.

But other than Hall, I don’t know who could be a possible option. But it’s clear the Devils could use reinforcements.

Another goose egg

After a four-game losing streak from October 19-25, the Devils entered tonight’s competition with a record of 10-3-0 in their last 13 games. Make it 10-4-0, which is still a fantastic winning percentage, but the problem is that all four of those losses were shutouts. That’s as many as in the entire last season. That’s four more than their incredible 2022-23 campaign, when they were never suspended the entire season. Failure to appear for crime is increasingly becoming a major problem.

As I mentioned in the previous section, this just goes to show that the Devils could use a little more firepower in the top-six or midfield. New Jersey has had strong results so far because while the offense has regressed a bit (though not to a crazy extent), the defense has taken a big step forward. If the price of greatly improved defense comes down a little on offense, then so be it. But New Jersey should still try to improve offensively at some point.

The journey continues

I have written about this several times and will continue to write about it until the drought is over. New Jersey entered this game on a three-game winning streak. They had a chance to win four or more games for the first time since January 2023 (a five-game winning streak). And once again they failed.

At this point I begin to believe that the devils are cursed. It’s not like I’m asking for another 13-game heat like we saw in early 2022-23. A four-game winning streak is a very modest goal, but one that has somehow eluded New Jersey for nearly two calendar years.

The hunt continues.

Milestones

We will end with good vibes. Jacob Markstrom was honored before today’s game for his 500th career game, a milestone he reached last week against Carolina.

It was a beautiful tribute video and a beautiful ceremony on the ice. Congratulations to Markstrom and his family.

Meanwhile, Luke Hughes played his 100th career game tonight. Congratulations to the youngest Hughes brother. Here’s to many, many more successful games in the Devils sweater.

The next time

The Devils play the Red Wings on Black Friday afternoon in Detroit. Puck drop is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Your opinion

What did you think of the game tonight? Are you as frustrated with the officials as I am? Aren’t you letting the Devils get away with how terribly they played in the first half? Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. See you on the other side of the holiday!