Jacob Markstrom, Devils keep rolling, shut down Blues

Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves to backstop the visiting New Jersey Devils to a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Tuesday.

Ondrej Palat, Stefan Noesen, Brenden Dillon and Jesper Bratt scored for the Devils, who are 5-1-1 in their last seven games. Jack Hughes earned two assists.

Jordan Kyrou scored and Jordan Binnington made 24 saves for the Blues, who suffered just their third regulation loss in 11 games (6-3-2) since Jim Montgomery replaced Drew Bannister as head coach.

The Blues nearly struck first when Kyrou fired a shot from the high slot into traffic, off Markstrom and off the right post.

Dylan Holloway also got a great scoring chance for St. Louis in the first period, but Markstrom stopped his clean break-in.

The Devils got on the board by scoring off the rush with 4:47 left in the first period. Luke Hughes fired a pass that sailed into the right corner and caromed off the boards to Palat, who hammered a slap shot from the left faceoff dot through Binnington's short side.

The Devils increased their lead to 2-0 by converting the first of back-to-back power plays in the second period. Jack Hughes fired a shot from a tough right-side angle and Noesen converted the rebound on his third try at the left post.

New Jersey held the Blues to 11 shots through the first 40 minutes with smothering team defense.

Dillon upped New Jersey's lead to 3-0 by scoring 3:38 into the third. He snapped a shot from above the left circle through heavy traffic and inside the left post.

With Binnington pulled for an extra attacker, Kyrou cut the Blues' deficit to 3-1 with 9:32 left by scoring from low in the left circle. That extended Kyrou's goal-scoring streak to four games.

Bratt scored an empty-net goal with 3:16 left to make it 4-1.

--Field Level Media