New Jersey would come out of the gates fast on Sunday, out-shooting the St. Louis Blues with eleven shots on goal to one. Ty Smith would make the next shot an important one; as he beat Ville Husso glove high in the slot, just before the ten minute mark of the first period to give the Devils a lead. Jesper Bratt set him up with a tape to tape pass from the left faceoff dot, to the right of the slot where Smith would bury his second goal of the season.
St. Louis woke a bit after that as they out-shot the Devils eleven to three the rest of the period. However, New Jersey goaltender Nico Daws was up to the task stopping everything in front of him in the first.
The Devils would start the second period strong as they registered five shots on goal to the Blues zero, and would turn that momentum into a goal about midway through the second. Dawson Mercer would be the beneficiary of a Jack Hughes cross-crease tape to tape pass that he would put in the back of the net, from the low slot for his fourteenth of the season.
Though St. Louis did not have a numerous amount of chances in the first two periods, they would capitalize on an opportunity early on in the third period. Torey Krug would beat Daws low glove side from the top of the left circle for his seventh of the year to cut the Devils lead to one. Blues would capitalize on the momentum shortly after as three minutes later, Jordan Kyrou beat Daws low stick side for his twenty second of the year to tie the game at two.
This one wouldn't be settled in regulation despite the late surge by the Blues as we would head into overtime. We wouldn't get a lot of free hockey here though as just over a minute into the overtime period, Dougie Hamilton would beat Husso glove high for his ninth of the season. The overtime winner came after a pass from Pavel Zacha along the boards that Hamilton took untouched to the front of the net and finished with the game winner.
The Devils were pretty much in control for the better part of this contest and get a big win against a tough opponent in the former Stanley Cup Champions. These are the types of games that New Jersey needs to win in order to build on the young core that they have for the future. When New Jersey uses their speed like this they have proved that they can play with anyone in the NHL, it's just a matter of them doing this on a night in, night out basis going forward.
Devils Return Tuesday
Tuesday is when the Devils will look to continue that next against the Colorado Avalanche at home.
