Blues trounce Devils after ugly road trip

After an ugly road trip, the Blues returned to their beloved Scottrade Center to host the New Jersey Devils and continue their success at home

Photo: Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports
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The first goals came from New Jersey, as Adam Henrique and Miles Wood registered to make it 2-0 with under ten minutes left in the first period.

“I thought we responded well right away after that second goal,” said Pietrangelo. “We had a couple good shifts that changed momentum real quick.”

It was all Blues from there.

On the powerplay, Vladimir Tarasenko sniped one past Corey Schneider after receiving a feed from Jaden Schwartz. His goal came 17:06 into the first, and Brad Hunt earned an assist to extend his point streak to four games.

After one period of play, the Devils led 2-1, despite being outshot 15 to 11.

Two minutes into the second period, Jori Lehtera entered the offensive zone with numbers. He dropped the puck for Robby Fabbri, who wristed it toward the net. Lehtera deflected in to knot the game at 2-2.

The Blues worked the puck around New Jersey before Kevin Shattenkirk left it for Tarasenko, who fired it to Alex Pietrangelo at the far post. Pietrangelo settled the pass and buried his sixth of the season to give the Blues a 3-2 lead 7:45 into the second.

In the third, Paul Stastny dropped the puck for Nail Yakupov and skated toward the net, dragging a defensemen with him. Yakupov snapped a shot into traffic. The puck bounced off a Devil’s stick and fluttered past a confused Schnieder to extend the Blues’ lead to 4-2.

“He did some really good things today that allow him to stay in the lineup,” said Hitchcock of Yakupov. “I really liked some of the pressure he put on people without the puck, which is what we're trying to get him to do and not just count on scoring a goal here and there, but be a factor in the game.”

“No matter how it went in the net, still a goal’s a goal,” explained Allen. “Hopefully that can create some momentum for him and he can keep it going.”

Patrik Berglund sunk an empty-net breakaway shot to end the game at 5-2.

The Blues outshot the New Jersey 31 to 26. After losing three of their last four games, St. Louis tallied another victory at the Scottrade Center to improve their home record to 13-1-3.

“The fans help us a lot and I feel like we feel more confident here. So now we have a job to do to figure out why our road record is not really good. I feel pretty good about our team this year and we still have a lot of time. We believe in our work, we believe in our coaching staff and try to stay as close as we can together to try and win games like this.”

On Saturday, the Blues will host their Central Division rival—the Chicago Blackhawks—at 7:00 p.m.

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PJ Cox
​Owner