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Blues’ eight-game winning streak ends vs. Devils

Blues see eight-game winning streak end vs. Devils

NEWARK, NJ - MARCH 6: Dakota Mermis #32 of the New Jersey Devils is congratulated by Kevin Rooney #16 after scoring his first NHL goal against the St. Louis Blues during the game at the Prudential Center on March 6, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

The Blues saw their eight-game winning streak end in an unlikely place: New Jersey. St. Louis saw its run close out after the Devils beat them 4-2 on Friday.

Takeaways after Blues see their eight-game winning streak end vs. Devils


  • Sometimes the unlikely happens. Sometimes that includes unlikely successes from players with unlikely names. Dakota Mermis, an undrafted 26-year-old defenseman, scored his first NHL goal in New Jersey’s upset win. In doing so, he proved that he doesn’t just exist in the rough draft in a Hollywood script. (I’m thinking “rushed sequel to Point Break.”)


  • Jesper Bratt made a pretty sound argument that he likely deserves more ice time.


  • I mean, unless ... you know, the Devils actually want to lose more often.

On that note, they might want to ponder some contrived ways to keep Cory Schneider on the bench and in a baseball cap more often.

Schneider began the 2019-20 season on the trajectory that’s become all-too-uncomfortably-familiar lately: as someone who might not be an NHL goalie, let alone a $6M one. He was 0-6-1 with a hideous .852 save percentage through Jan. 18.

Lately, Schneider’s looked like a new goalie, though. He’s now 3-0-1 over his last four starts, stopping 31 out of 33 shots against the Blues. At this rate, the Devils might heat up enough to see their draft lottery odds sink below those of the slipping Sabres.

(Also, Schneider nabbed an assist on that Mermis goal. Strange game, indeed.)

Blessing or curse for New Jersey to heat up?


  • This served as a rare off night for usually-on Blues such as Jordan Binnington and Colton Parayko.

Seeing the end of an eight-game winning streak leaves the Blues with precious little room to breathe against the Avalanche for the top spot in the Central. St. Louis only holds a two-point edge (90 to 88), while Colorao has one game in hand after also losing on Friday (67 games played vs. 68 for the Blues).


  • Circling back to that earlier draft lottery point, the Devils are also 6-2-2 over their last 10 games.

Inevitable(?) Taylor Hall joke: does Hall’s draft lottery luck count when he’s no longer playing for a team, but the pick involved was related to a Hall trade? Asking for a rather Coyote-like friend.


  • Either way, the Devils’ relative competence will inspire another round of existential debates about tanking.

Should the Devils be happy to grab some wins while closing out a disappointing season? Is this round of too little too late also going to be self-destructive?

Maybe Schneider isn’t the goalie you want to drive that tank. Consider that, in 2018-19, he was terrible before the All-Star break (strangely, the same .852 save percentage in the same number of games [9] as this latest pre-All-Star run) and then caught fire after (.921 save percentage during his last 17 games of 2018-19).

It’s too small of a sample size to say anything for sure, but maybe the Devils and/or Schneider linger as upset threats? They certainly did so on Friday, as the Blues saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end.


James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.