Noesen, Devils defeat Blues for 3rd straight win

ST. LOUIS -- Stefan Noesen scored in his 400th NHL game for the New Jersey Devils in a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

"Hopefully I have another 400 left in me, but we'll see," Noesen said. "The past couple games, I've had some really good looks but just haven't been able to find the back of the net. Tonight, I was able to squeak one in there."

Ondrej Palat, Brenden Dillon and Jesper Bratt also scored for the Devils (21-10-3), who have won three in a row. Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves and Jack Hughes has two assists.

"It was kind of a slow start for both teams; both teams were pretty structured and did a really good job in the neutral zone and both teams were breaking out quickly and efficiently," Devils coach Sheldon Keefe said. "It took a little bit to really get going. You win the first period, power play comes through to help us win the second period."

Jordan Kyrou scored in his fifth straight game, and Jordan Binnington made 24 saves for the Blues (15-15-3), who are 1-2-1 in their past four.

"I thought our first 15 minutes, I thought it was pretty good," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "I thought our intensity was there, I thought we were a little bit faster than they were. They scored that goal, and the air came out of the balloon.

"We made it easy to be checked. Jersey did a great job of checking. Their habits and details were superior to ours after they scored that first goal. And that's where we've got to become a little more resilient."

Palat made it 1-0 at 15:13 of the first period off a set play by defenseman Luke Hughes, who put a puck hard off the boards from his side of the red line into the stick of Palat for a one-timer to Binnington's short side that grazed his right shoulder.

"It's a broken play," Montgomery said. "They tried to hit the guy through the middle of the ice. I think it went through his legs or under his stick, off the end wall, they had speed on the outside. The guy made a good shot."

Noesen's power-play goal at 13:09 of the second period made it 2-0, after stuffing multiple attempts at the left post, he finally tapped one inside the bar off Binnington's right skate while the goalie was sprawled on the ice.

It was his 14th goal of the season, matching his NHL career high set last season with the Carolina Hurricanes.

"Sometimes, that's the way it goes, you get those trash ones," Noesen said. "Sometimes they look pretty. Tonight was one of those garbage ones."

Dillon's shot from the left boards caromed off the stick of Jake Neighbours and beat a screened Binnington to the short side that made it 3-0 at 3:38 of the third period.

"I loved how we started the third, came out on the attack and had some of our best offensive zone sequences in the third period up two goals," Keefe said. "That was really encouraging and managed the game too."

The Blues pulled Binnington for an extra skater, and Kyrou scored from the left circle through Markstrom at 10:28 to cut the deficit to 3-1.

"We got some emotions [finally]," St. Louis forward Pavel Buchnevich said. "We got one goal and after that, we have a couple good shifts and [a] scrum. We had a couple good chances and just missed the net or something. Good game to learn from that game."

Bratt scored an empty-net goal at 16:44 for the 4-1 final.

"I felt like it looked the same way as we've played in the last home stretch here, which is good hockey, good defensive hockey, good penalty kill and good power play coming up clutch for us again," Markstrom said. "We don't get many chances and then for us to put up three and then an empty-netter, it's big for us. We capitalized on our chances."

NOTES: Markstrom is 6-0-1 his past seven starts since a 3-0 loss against St. Louis on Nov. 27. ... Kyrou has six points (five goals, one assist) in a six-game point streak; his goal streak is an NHL career high, and he has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in a 12-game home point streak. ... Jack Hughes has six points (two goals, four assists) in a three-game point streak and 16 points (five goals, 11 assists) in his past nine games. ... New Jersey forward Curtis Lazar played 11:41 and won 10 of 15 face-offs in his return after missing the previous 21 with a knee injury. ... Bratt has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak, and 14 points (four goals, 10 assists) in his past nine games.