The New Jersey Devils won again on Tuesday, beating the St. Louis Blues 4-1. The game never really felt in doubt, as the Devils were in control from the start. At the end of the game, the Devils led in chances 52 to 38 according to Natural Stat Trick. It was another workman-like performance for Jersey's Team.
There are a few trends that come out of this game that extend from the Devils' positive homestand. They dominated in chances and used the defense to suffocate the Blues. Since they were in control, there were some score effects high-danger chances the Blues had while the Devils were trying to hold the lead. This ended with the Blues leading in high-danger chances at 5v5 for the game, but that was not impactful to the game. The Devils had already done their damage.
The most important trend was that of Jacob Markstrom. The Devils' netminder was stellar once again, outside of one stinker. That's the trend for Markstrom since Jake Allen went down with an injury. He hasn't allowed much, and his save percentage keeps going up.
Jacob Markstrom has been stellar for New Jersey Devils in December
Going into December, Markstrom was rocking a .902 save percentage in 18 games. In six December games, Markstrom has a .937 save percentage. He's been a top-10 goalie this month. Only three goalies with at least three starts have a better save percentage in December than Markstrom. This run has raised his season-long save percentage to .909. That has him 20th in the league among players with at least nine starts.
This isn't where Markstrom hopes to be at the end of the season, but it's so much better than it's been. Markstrom has a better save percentage than Igor Shesterkin and Andrei Vasilevskiy. Everyone has been saying that if the Devils just got league-average goaltending, they'd be a top team in the league. Markstrom is giving them even better than that, and they just took over the Metropolitan Division lead after a Washington Capitals loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Markstrom has been as advertised after a rough start to the season. He is still allowing way too many bad goals, but he's stopping everything else. Head coach Sheldon Keefe had nice things to say about Markstrom after the game.
"He's been really, really good. He's in a nice groove and it's great to see."
— Trey Matthews (@treymatt4) December 18, 2024
Sheldon Keefe had HIGH praise for his goalie Jacob Markstrom
T-2nd in the NHL in wins
In his last 7 starts: 6-0-1, .920 SV%, and a GAA below 1.80 #NJDevils @LockedOnNetwork @pitchforkedpuck pic.twitter.com/nc66mGoMfB
It's been a great stretch for Devils hockey, and a lot is going right, but don't ignore how important Markstrom has been to their current stretch. He's played five games in a row while Allen recovers. It's been exactly what the Devils need. The team paid a pretty price to bring Markstrom in last offseason, but it's been well worth it.