Blues Blank Devils | GAME STORY

Here are some observations from the game:

• The Blues built a 3-0 lead in the first period and secured that score to win. St. Louis scored three goals and 10 shots in that opening period. From there, St. Louis went into defensive lockdown mode and used it effectively to shut down the Devils in the final 40 minutes.

“It’s tough against any team when you see a lead like that,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “They park the bus and clog it up. This makes it difficult to access their network. You don’t take risks on offense, so the game is not interesting for you. You have to find your way there. Obviously it was a struggle for us.”

“They turned it off. They stayed up. How do you find ways to break that?” Noesen said. “We talk about how to do it, but we haven’t gone out and done it.”

• The Devils turned the ice in their favor early in the second period. New Jersey outscored the Blues 11-1 in midfield. In fact, the Blues only registered one shot in a 30:46-minute span that spanned the entire second period and 10:46 minutes early in the third period.

• Devils defenseman Luke Hughes played in his 100th career NHL game.

• It’s been an ugly start for the Devils, although they’ve struggled with some circumstances. Thomas opened the scoring of the game with a goal on his first shot just nine seconds into the game. However, the play turned out to involve Pavel Buchnevich tripping Devils captain Nico Hischier in the process to make the 2-on-1 play that led to the goal.

“In my opinion, there was a miscall there,” Keefe said. “That’s the way it is. It didn’t go according to our wishes. You can still stop the 2v1 game. You can still save. You can still play the game and score the next goal. All these things. There was still plenty of time left. It was indicative of our night.”

St. Louis extended the lead when Holloway scored on the power play at 6:23. But again it appeared Brayden Schenn crosschecked New Jersey’s Brett Pesce from behind, knocking him to the ground in the crease and creating space for Holloway’s shot.

• New Jersey didn’t register its first shot of the game until 12:07 of the first period. At that point, St. Louis had a 2-0 advantage and an 8-1 advantage in shots.

• The Devils played the game without forward Timo Meier, who was serving a one-game suspension for a serious cross-checking penalty in the previous game against Nashville.

• Before the game, the Devils held a pre-game ceremony where Jacob Markstrom was honored for recently reaching the 500-game mark in his NHL career. He got a silver wand, a few plaques, a bottle of wine, a watch and even a mini silver wand for his son Clark.

“It’s not often that you get to share ice cream with your family. It’s definitely special,” Markstrom said. “Of course I wanted a different result and a different start to the game. This is a day to look back and remember not the game but the time before the game.”