The New Jersey Devils had a game of their own on Thursday night. One night after a big win over the Detroit Red Wings, they came home to take on the St. Louis Blues.
This Blues team has had a tough season but has been good lately. There are plenty of rumors surrounding their plans for the rest of the season but they are in no way out of the race in the Western Conference.
They showed why as they came to New Jersey and earned a big 5-3 win over the Devils. New Jersey had a 2-1 lead after Jack Hughes scored two goals to give them that lead.
The Blues scored two unanswered before depositing an empty netter to take the win. Nico Hischier also scored a goal to extend his point streak to five games.
It was a tough loss for New Jersey as once again they outplayed their opponent by a lot and still lost. Akira Schmid got the start after an odd call-up to replace Mackenzie Blackwood who was missing for precautionary purposes.
The Devils need to find a way to start stringing some wins together here soon because the Metropolitan Division is really tightening up. Their chance to end an eight-game home losing streak will be on Saturday against the New York Rangers.
The New Jersey Devils are in desperate need of some big wins coming up soon.
All-Star Game Nods:
The National Hockey League announced one player from each team that will play in the 2023 NHL All-Star Game. For the New Jersey Devils, Jack Hughes is the pick. He is one of the least surprising nods in the league as he is clearly the guy for the Devils.
Hughes leads New Jersey with 24 goals, 22 assists, and 46 points. He will join Andrei Svechnikov, Johnny Gaudreau, Brock Nelson, Igor Shesterkin, Kevin Hayes, Sidney Crosby, and Alex Ovechkin on the Metropolitan Division team. That group is loaded with insanely good players.
In addition to the players already named to each team, each division is going to add two more skaters and another goalie via a fan vote. There is a chance that another New Jersey Devils player could get added to the group if the fan vote goes well.
Obviously, Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, and Jesper Bratt lead the way in terms of New Jersey skaters that deserve a chance to play. In goal, Vitek Vanecek has a case as well but Ilya Sorokin and Pyotr Kochetkov will be in the mix as well. Regardless, this should be a fun time for NHL fans.
World Juniors:
Team Canada defeated Team Czechia in overtime to take the World Junior Gold on Thursday. They were one of the best teams in the entire tournament and were well deserving of this championship. Connor Bedard and the rest of the team should be very proud of this win.
They reached the World Junior Championships Gold Medal Game by defeating Team USA the night before. Of course, Devils top prospect Luke Hughes was the captain of Team USA which was fun to watch. He had a great tournament himself but they came up just short against Canada.
Hughes and Team USA took home the Bronze Medal a few hours before Canada took the Gold so Hughes isn’t coming home empty-handed. It won’t be long before he is in the NHL.
Other NHL News:
The Washington Capitals defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night and Alexander Ovechkin scored his 809th career goal. It won’t be long before this man is the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. He has been on a tear so far this season.
Luckily for the Devils, the Rangers were the only other Metropolitan team that is in the race won. It isn’t ideal that those two teams won on a night that they lost but the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Carolina Hurricanes all lost which is good.
It isn’t going to be an easy finish for the Devils but they just need to find a way to get into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They have an amazing farm system and a very good team at the NHL level so there is a lot to be excited about with this bright of a future.