Markstrom makes 25 saves, Devils hold off Blues to end 5-game skid

ST. LOUIS -- Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves, and the New Jersey Devils ended a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton and Nico Hischier scored for the Devils (29-29-2), who were outscored 16-4 in the previous five games. Luke Hughes had an assist in his return after missing 10 games with a shoulder injury.

“I feel like these last couple games before this one the other night (a 4-1 loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday), we deserved a better result, but we just didn’t finish the job in the third period and couldn’t break through offensively,” New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. “To have some of those things come true today, I think the guys deserved the result and I’m happy to leave with a good feeling.”

Pavel Buchnevich scored, and Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for the Blues (21-29-9), who have lost four of five and are 2-8-1 their past 11 games.

“I thought we just started losing battles and turning the puck over too much,” St. Louis forward Jake Neighbours said. “It just felt like it was self-inflicted, myself included. I had a couple bad ones in the D-zone. The first goal’s on me. Turnover in the O-zone, they go the other way. Just kind of shooting ourselves in the foot.”

Meier gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 5:37 of the second period, keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 with Dawson Mercer and snapping it high on the left side.

“We just played quick,” Meier said. “That’s our identity. We have a lot of guys with a lot of speed, so we’ve got to do it more, we’ve got to play faster and catch teams off-guard. I got a 2-on-1 chance there and that got us going.”

Hamilton’s power-play goal at 19:44 made it 2-0 when Jack Hughes curled around the net and found the Devils defenseman for a one-timer in the high slot.

The Devils outshot the Blues 17-6 in the second.

“When we’re at our best, the second period really fuels our game and sets us up for the third,” Keefe said. “I thought that’s as dominant as we’ve been in quite a while. To break through offensively, a big goal by Timo. Power play comes through, penalty kill got the job done all night, so it was nice to play with a lead.”

Buchnevich scored at 18:42 of the third period to make it 2-1 after intercepting Markstrom's attempt at shooting the puck down the ice, collecting the loose puck from Pius Suter and poking it in.

Hischier scored into an empty net at 19:55 for the 3-1 final.

“I would have liked to see more desperation, absolutely, more chaos at their net (earlier in the period),” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought we started the game fast, we started on time. The only thing I thought was lacking was the last maybe 4-5 minutes, we started to tail off with our pace and our intensity, and then the second period, it would have been nice if we could have had the same second period as last game (a 5-1 win against the Seattle Kraken). Unfortunately, we lost too many battles, so we don’t have the puck and then when we do have the puck, because you don’t have it, you want to make a play, and we had something like 19 turnovers. That leads to playing a lot in your own end. We couldn’t get defensemen off the ice, and the second period just wasn’t good enough for us. Game management.”

NOTES: Luke Hughes played 20:10 and had two shots on goal and two takeaways. … Meier had a game-high eight shots on goal in 17 attempts. … With Luke Hughes back, the Devils scratched defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic. … Devils center Nick Bjugstad played 11:52 in his first game against the Blues after being traded to New Jersey on Feb. 4 for a conditional fourth-round pick and minor league forward Thomas Bordeleau. … St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko missed his first game of the season with back spasms and is unlikely to play on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild. … Blues forward Robert Thomas could play Sunday after missing his 13th straight game; he has been out since Wednesday for personal reasons. ... With Parayko out, Neighbours wore an 'A' for the first time in his NHL career.